One Good Deed
by BuonaStella
Summary: seifer fic! while trying to move up the ranks in the garden seifer meets a new student. chapter nine is up! seifer and skyeli bond over t-rex while zell and squall reminisce.
1. to begin with

One Good Deed

By Caelia

Chapter One: to begin with

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

User name: spaige

Password: ********

Enter Journal mode:

  I guess I'd like to start by saying it was a normal day.  People tend to value those more since SeeD fought the war against Sorceress Ultimicia.  But everything is so normal and so quiet now.  The technicians of Fisherman's Horizon have repaired the portion of the Quad that was destroyed during the attack from Galbadia.  Garden continues to train SeeDs, although their ultimate goal no longer focuses on protecting the world from Sorceress Edea.  Instead, SeeDs have been commissioned to act as a worldwide peace keeping force.  I know it sounds a little paradoxical, but the headmasters of Balamb, Trabia, and Galbadia all met to discuss the outcome of the SeeD program.  They determined that it would be to everyone's advantage to keep SeeDs active.

  So from the outside Balamb Garden has not changed much, but inside is a completely different story.

  The best place to start with people would be everyone's favorite couple, Edea and Cid.  (Ha, thought I was going to say Squall and Rinoa, huh?)  They are in the process of going through extensive marriage counseling.  Basically the resident psychiatrist didn't think it was such a stable union when one partner starts a military organization working towards the assignation of the other partner.  Despite what the doctor may think, their love is strong and very "stable."  On a business note, Edea is slowly working her way into reopening her orphanage off of Centra.  And so, Cid, ever wanting to be close to his wife, has thought it best to move down to Centra with her, which brings us to Squall and Rinoa . . . (happy now?)

  Squall, who throughout the entire Ultimicia crisis was acting as the Commander, has been formally approached for the position of headmaster.  Although he is used to the position and all that is required of him by now, Squall still pays close attention to all of Cid's advice.  He's even learning to rely on others, although most people speculate that has more to do with Rinoa than Cid.  And even though their relationship is very strong, they have yet to take the final leap into marriage.  With Rinoa working as a SeeD and Squall's new position, there is simply no time for a wedding.

  Selphie and Irvine have formed an interesting, if not nauseating, relationship.  Perhaps that is based more jealousy than anything else.  But seeing as they are one of the top performing SeeD partnerships, I guess I cannot complain. Irvine keeps himself occupied with his missions and his instructing.  Selphie is working (obviously) on the Garden Festival Committee and forming a babysitting group to take care of the younger students.  Next up on the social calendar: Spring Formal.

  In the months that followed the final battle, two of the heroes remained out of the public eye: one to his dismay and the other to her pleasure.  Zell wished for more recognition than he was given, while Quistis was trying to regain her former position, so she didn't need unnecessary attention.  Sometimes love works in a most odd manor, but people were always saying how Quistis's calm personality balanced out Zell's passionate mind-set.  It took them almost a full year to admit that they liked one another, but after that Quistis and Zell were one of the cutest couples on campus.

  So that's where everyone involved in the Sorceress crisis is . . . . . 

  Oh yes, I had almost forgotten the Discipline Committee.  Yes, they have managed to reform.  Fujin and Raijin were let back in quite easily before the entire crisis ended.  We needed the manpower, you see.  But Seifer, well he was another story.  

  About a month after everyone was released from the time compression Seifer wandered back in here.  He came on the festival night of a so as not to be noticed.  Seifer was able to slip into the party, find Edea and leave without attracting any attention.  As to how he did that or what was said between himself and Edea, no one is sure.  All we know is that the next day he was re-introduced to the Garden.

  That was a hell of a day as I recall.  I was only 16 at the time and not friends with any of the orphanage gang, so I can't say that I knew how any of them felt exactly.  But you didn't have to be a genius to figure this one out.  Even the junior classman steered clear from Selphie that day.

  Oh, they were so hard on him those first months if I remember correctly.  Most of the time they ignored him, but always watched for some mistake.  Then Rinoa got sick of it, she decided that she had had enough of the bullshit, and formed a friendship with him.  Slowly the others followed her lead, and a little over a year after he came back here he was re-admitted for SeeD candidacy.  A couple of months after that, the Discipline Committee was reformed, and by the end of his first year back he was a fully decorated SeeD.  And now, two years later, he is still working here at the age of 21.

  So that's that.  Up to date now?

  Oh, not quite, but maybe some other night, I'll write down the rest.

  Log off. 

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

A/N:  Hey guys, thanks to any who read this the first time and came back to see what I've done.  I would really, really appreciate feedback! So you know what that means READ AND REAVIEW.  It's sort of like "be kind, rewind", but not really.  Chapter 1 is the only one I plan on having in Skyeli's journal.  I just wanted to give you some background info. ^_^

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight off everyone on ffnet for them. But I do own Skyeli Paige, Caine Morningstar and Reiko Keyling, so please don't steal them. They're all a little nuts anyway. . .


	2. taking out the trash

One Good Deed

By Caelia

Chapter Two: taking out the trash

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Skyeli Paige tripped and fell at the end of the dorm corridor heading away from the central circle.  Letting out sigh, she adjusted herself so she was kneeling and went about the process of gathering all her scattered belongings.  Anyone who stumbled on her at that moment would have thought her as messy as any of her belongings strewn on the floor.  Her dark brown hair was pulled in to a braid that had little frizzes sticky out all over the place.  Her standard issue cadet uniform was wrinkled and there was a slight stain in the corner of her skirt.

  It was the Friday before a long weekend and most of the students were planning on going home.  Skyeli wouldn't be going home this weekend, and from the look of things, she figured it would be a while before she got back to her mother's small house outside of Deling City.  Her roommate Reiko would just figure that she was going to spend the weekend studying for the SeeD exam the two were signed up for in two weeks.

  Her parents had lived in Galbadia all their lives, growing up in and around Deling City.  Skyeli had lived with them until the age of seven when she was sent to the Garden in Balamb.  Although her parents were lifelong citizens of Galbadia, they saw the government change for the worst at the beginning of Dictator, er . . . President Deling's term.  In an effort to keep their daughter from being influenced by her homeland and later inducted into its army, they sent her to a Garden a little further away.

  And it was in that Garden that she was now crouched on the floor, leafing through the belongings she had dropped. Skyeli, who had just cleaned out here locker up on the second floor, was surprised to see how much crap at teenage girl can stuff into a small, rectangular box.  Picking up a hairbrush and make-up compact and placing them into her bag, Skyeli uncovered a postcard she had received only yesterday.  Her parents were vacationing in Fisherman's Horizon.  They had called her a week earlier just before leaving.  Just seeing the postcard allowed the conversation to slip back into her mind.

  _"Really mom, the shop will be fine.  Joanah's been working there for how many years now?"_

_  "Three," her mother replied reluctantly, "But I still worry, dear.  And what about you, will you be okay?"_

_  "Mom, honestly, I haven't lived at home for over ten years now.  Not being able to come home one weekend isn't going to kill me."_

_  "You're sure?"_

_  "Please!  You two work too hard anyway.  You deserve the break, enjoy yourselves."_

_  "I love you, dear."_

_  "I love you too, mom."_

  She smiled sadly as she turned the post card over to reread the paragraph her mother had written in her fine, loopy cursive.  She was so lost in thought she didn't even notice the approaching student.

  "Hello sweetheart."  Feeling her stomach turn, Skyeli braved a look up and winced.

  "Hello, Caine."

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Seifer, Fujin and Raijin walked out of the training center looking no more tired then they had been when they'd entered.

  "I'm tellin' ya, we need to upgrade those monsters, ya know?" Raijin complained.

  "TOO EASY," Fujin agreed.

  "Yeah, yeah, so we'll talk to Squall about it.  He'll probably say no though.  Can't have the beginners going up against high-level monsters like a Malboro or a Red Dragon.  Most Garden members have enough trouble with T-Rexaur," Seifer pointed out.

  "AFFIRMATIVE."

  "Yeah, I guess . . ." Raijin gave in.  "So what now?  No need for a shower, didn't even break a sweat, ya know."

  "We might as well change though.  I don't know about you two, but when that T-Rexaur threw me, I landed in a frickin' mud puddle," Seifer mock-whined and Fujin smiled at his childish tones.

  "So we change then we eat!" Raijin exclaimed.

  "Sounds good to me, let's go."

  With that the Discipline Committee set off towards the dorms at a leisurely pace.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  "Jerk!  I don't have time for your bitter ex-boyfriend bullshit right now.  Piss off Caine!" Skyeli shouted at the obstinate male.

  "You're wrong.  You didn't want to dump me.  You were confused, but today's your lucky day, I'm giving you a second chance," he smiled.  Skyeli broke.

  "Let me get this straight: you . . . are giving me . . . a second chance . . ?"  Caine nodded at her, glad that she finally comprehended what he was offering.  "That's it!  You belittled my every attempt to make you happy, you never supported me in anything I've wanted to do and to top it all off you were WAY too selfish in bed!"

  With the attack on his sexual habits, Caine finally decided it was time to respond.  Stooping down, he picked up the postcard Skyeli was just looking at and smiled at her evilly.

  "Always the good daughter, eh?  Isn't that sweet, cherishing everything mommy and daddy say, right?  Bet it was them that told you to break it off with me?"  He gave a crack of laughter.

  "Dude, how the hell did you get in here?  I didn't think that psycho's were so readily admitted.  Oh, or did you crack up afterwards.  Pressure too much ass-munch?" she asked as innocently as possible.  His gaze narrowed as he began calculating ways to hurt her.

  "You'll regret that," he growled as he ripped the postcard to shreds.  Skyeli looked as though she was going to cry, but was too shocked to get the tears out.  Unfortunately she didn't regain her composure in time to block him from lunging at her.  One of his hands clamped down on her arm while the other went for her throat, or, more specifically, her necklace.  The locket was an oval almost an inch long.  Her mother had given it to her that day before she left for the Garden.

_  Whoever's picture you put in this locket you'll be destined to marry, or so the legend goes.  It has been in our family for four generations now.  I put your father's picture in it when we fell in love for the luck it brings.  Now it's your turn to guard it._

  Thinking back on her mother, Skyeli focused all the more on removing Caine from her necklace.  The pair was so intensely focused on each other that they didn't even notice the D.C. approaching.

  "Hey!" Seifer called out, startling the quarreling duo.  Caine gave Skyeli one final shove, knocking her to the ground, ripping the chain from her neck while crushing the locket in his hand.

  "What's goin' on here, ya know!?" Raijin looked from one to the other in confusion.  The girl was sprawled out on the floor, clutching her neck in despair, while the boy stood above her looking victorious.  He dropped the broken charm to the floor.

  Fujin walked over to the girl and helped her up.  "TROUBLE," she said.  She glared at the boy.

  "Not exactly acting like a SeeD candidate should, ya know?" Raijin commented.

  "No kidding," Seifer said grimly.  "Why don't you two take him to the Disciplinary Room?  We can hold him there until we come up with an appropriate punishment.  Then go get changed and I'll meet you in the cafeteria."

  "YOU?" Fujin gazed at him through her one working eye.

  "I'll catch up," Seifer said.  He was staring down at the girl who had slipped back to the floor despite Fujin helping her up.  Her head was down so Seifer couldn't see her face, but he didn't need to see it to know what she was feeling.  Every couple of seconds she would shiver as if crying and then force herself back under control.

  Fujin watched Seifer, wondering why he cared what this student did.  But then she shrugged any thought of that off as she noticed the boy inching slowly away from the whole scene.  "DON'T MOVE," she warned as she walked over to take hold of his upper arm.

  "Comin' with us, ya know?" Raijin said cheerfully enough as he and his partner led the kid off.

  Seifer kneeled down next to her.  She sat there like a fallen queen amidst her crumbling empire.  She had obviously gathered her belongings into several neat piles, with only a few items knocked off each when she fell.  But she didn't seem to care about any of that.  Her gaze was trained on the broken locket that had landed on top of the remains of a postcard.  It hadn't been ripped finely so Seifer could still make out _Love, Mom_ and _good time.  He turned back to the girl sitting before him.  He would wait until she noticed him._

  "Who was he to you?" Seifer asked when she finally looked up.

  "Just a little fucker.  Doesn't matter," Skyeli wiped her tears away, and then decided to focus all her anger on the older student.  "What's it to you?"

  "Seeing as I'm the one who has to come up with some sort of punishment for the little bastard, I should know who he is and what he did.  What if he didn't do shit?  What if you attacked him and he was defending himself?  And then what if I expel him?  See, too much trouble," Seifer smiled.  "I don't need Squall getting pissed at me now."

  "Right, well then let me assure you, that _is_ not what happened," Skyeli said a little bitterly.

  "So . . .  Who is he?" he tried again.

  "His name is Caine Morningstar.  He's one of the SeeD candidates here, and up until about two weeks ago my boyfriend.  I dumped him; he refuses to accept it.  End of story."

  "So in his anger at you in tripped you, causing all your stuff to scatter and then destroyed your post card and locket.  Am I close?"  Seifer gave a small smirk as he asked this.

  "Yeah… oh, almost.  I'm a big girl now.  Didn't need any help tripping and making an ass out of myself.  Caine walked up while I was picking up and insisted that I had been wrong in dumping him, but I must see the error of my ways by now.  He made me a little bit mad, so I pointed out where our relationship was lacking and then he jumped me," she said with a sly grin.  _Well, it could be considered constructive criticism by some . . . if you were a REALLY generous person._

  "So basically, you insulted him," Seifer offered reading between the lines quite easily.

  "Well . . . I wasn't doing to it to provoke him.  He was being so thick.  I couldn't help it.  I thought it would make him going away and rethink his approach or something," she looked to the locket, then continued quietly, "Guess I was wrong, huh?"

  "Yeah, I think so.  Here, I'll help you carry your stuff back to your room," he said as he reached for a large, black duffle bag, grunting under the weight.  "Damn, what's in this?  Everything you own?"

  "Hmm…. No, that one has all my weapons in it.  I had problems settling and went through about five or six different weapons," she smiled sweetly, "Anyway, don't bother.  I made it this far and only fell once.  I figure I can get back to the dorm and still have a good forty feet before I'm due for another fall."

  "Cute and convincing, but I'm heading that way anyway, so let's pretend I'm a nice little boy who rescues damsels in distress," insert cocky grin here, "So, come along Lady… eh, Lady what?  Hey, what's your name anyway?"

  Seifer had finally managed to get a true smile out of her.  "Skyeli Paige.  You want all my stats too, Sir Almasy?"  Skyeli giggled and bent over, retrieving the rest of her fallen items.  She never even saw him flinch at the nickname.  No one had dared to call him that in almost two years.  He shook his head and moved his gaze to the silver necklace on the floor.

  "Yeah, sure, but first, do you want this locket and postcard?" he asked and immediately saw his mistake.  The girl, Skyeli, stiffened again.

  "Forget it, let's go," was all she said before turning and starting down the hallway towards the dorms.

  _Don't know about the postcard, but the necklace should be no problem to fix.  Maybe Zell could…_  Seifer scooped the locket up, quickly admiring the cover.  It was silver and decorated with the design of a flower.  The primorchid.  That plant only grew around Galbadia.  _She must be from there_.  He threw the necklace into his pocket and jogged to catch up.

  "Ok, kid, so let's here those stats," Seifer tried to get her mind onto a lighter subject.

  "Skyeli Paige of Scarsdale, outside of Deling City.  Member of the Garden since age seven.  Weapon of choice," she winked, "Glaive.  Garden Level 65.  SeeD candidacy test: Friday in two weeks.  How's that?"

  "Good enough for now.  The Glaive, huh?  That's about as rare of a choice as the Gunblade," he commented as they turned down another corridor heading towards the girls double dorms.

  "Yeah, except there are two of you.  The Gunblade was one of the weapons I tried.  Nothing really fit.  My Glaive works perfectly," she smiled again.  Stopping in front of a door she, pushed the button on the side panel to open it.  "This is it, thanks for helping me out."

  "Hey, no problem," he looked her up and down.  "Kid, how old are you?"

  She glared at him.  "I'm eighteen!"

  "Hey, hey, hey.  Don't get mad at me.  You're just so short."

  "Am not!  I'm 5ft 1 and ½ inches!" she stated, exasperated.

  "Awfully proud of that half inch, aren't we?  I've got like a foot on you," he said in a cocky tone.

  "You would be too if you had to view the world from down here," she sounded defeated.

  "Hey, cheer-up!  I'm about to make you an offer no body can refuse.  You're going out with me tonight," he stated, obviously proud of this idea, although internally confused of its origins.

  _Great, another dense male.  What am I?  A fucking magnet?_  "Oh yeah, right," she said aloud, rolling her eyes.

  "No, seriously.  Are any of your friends here this weekend?"  She shook her head.  "And did you have anything else to do?"  Another shake of the head.  "See?  I have to meet up with Fujin and Raijin and deal with your little friend, but after that I'm free.  Come on, humor me."  _I'm begging, he thought, _why?__

  "Alright.  7 o'clock, in front of the directory and this had better be good."  She stepped inside the room and shut the door.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

A/N: Right, so there's chapter two.  Again Read and Review.  I know Seifer isn't in character.  It's on purpose, I'm going to cover that in the next chapter.  But let me know what you think of how he reacted, if you guys think its way to OOC, I can fix it.  Anyway, thanks for reading.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight of everyone on FF.net for them.  But I do own Skyeli Paige, Reiko and Caine Morningstar so please don't steal them.  They're all a little nuts anyway . . .


	3. johnny got his gun

One Good Deed

By Caelia

Chapter Three: johnny got his gun 

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  The minute the door closed Seifer was off, heading towards his own room.  Thoughts were speeding through his head, but he refused to slow down long enough to give credit to any of them.  All he needed to do was change and meet up with his friends.  He didn't have time to contemplate his attitude right now.  He still had that boy to punish.  _I should talk to Squall… and Rinoa._

  Seifer turned left at the next corridor, heading towards the male dorms.  Ever since they had made SeeD, Seifer had been living with Raijin.  _I really hope Squall gets this dorm shortage worked out.  I'm tired of living with a slob, even if he is my best friend.  Upon opening the door, he scanned the apartment, taking note that both bedrooms were empty as was the living area.  _Good, this will be the first time I've had this room to myself in weeks._  Seifer walked briskly into his room, picked up his usual outfit and headed towards the bathroom._

  Once completing the cleaning rituals, Seifer left his room, this time heading towards the cafeteria where he had promised to meet Fujin and Raijin.  _Maybe they can think up a better punishment for this kid because my gut reaction is to expel him._  With that in mind Seifer took a final glance down the female dorm corridor, and headed off to meet his friends.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Raijin stared at the woman waiting in line for food.  He couldn't think of anyone more perfect: smart, beautiful, deadly, and concise and the list could go on.  They had been together before even Seifer came along.  Growing up together in Balamb had been tough.  He had been a disproportional youth, never quite looking as though he fit into his body.  And Fujin, well, everyone has his or her own awkward stage.  By the end of it she was wearing an eye-patch and shouting at everyone.

  And then Seifer entered their lives.  He gave them purpose and power, but more than that he created the posse.  And then the Sorceress entered his life, but still they covered him.  That's what a posse is for.  But Raijin wouldn't have gone if Fujin didn't.  His loyalty might be with Seifer, but his heart followed Fujin. Raijin's biggest concern, however, still laid in Fujin's feelings for Seifer.  Sometimes he wondered if her admiration of their leader was more than just a simple crush.

  Raijin looked up as the one he had just been thinking about approached.

  "So, how we gonna handle the kid, ya know?" Raijin immediately brought them to the issue that they had been thrown into only twenty minutes earlier.

  "SUSPEND," offered Fujin.

  "Yeah, I guess.  Something about him makes me want to expel the little runt, but that's too extreme I guess," Seifer said as he tried to reason through his own thoughts.  "I was also thinking.  Find out if he's up for the SeeD exam next Friday, will ya Raijin?  With actions like these he is obviously not ready for it."

  "Yeah, no problem.  I'll get right on it, ya know?" Raijin agreed easily.

  "AFFIRMATIVE," Fujin said.

  "You offering to help?" asked Raijin.

  "JERK," Fujin kicked him in the shin.  "TEAM."

  Even as the pain shot up his leg, Raijin couldn't be happier.  Fujin had already picked up the soda she had bought from the lunch lady and was walking away.  Raijin just stayed there, bouncing on one leg while holding the other, grinning like an idiot.  It wasn't until he looked at Seifer, who stood there smirking at him, that he composed himself.

  "Women, ya know?"

  "Not yet, but somehow I think I'm going to after tonight," Seifer said looking off at the door that Fujin had disappeared through.  He turned back to Raijin.  "I bet if you run, you can catch up with her."

  Raijin looked at Seifer and blinked twice.  _How did he know… and with that he took off after his "teammate" while Seifer stood there, laughing at his two best friends._

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  "…so the Discipline Committee is suggesting that you suspend him for a week and then re-evaluate his SeeD candidacy, sir," Seifer reported to Headmaster Cid.  "Also, off-the-record, I suggest that he seek counseling."

  "Yes, well, Squall and I will take your suggestions into serious consideration.  You three are dismissed now," Headmaster Cid saluted them, turned and walked back to his desk.

  Seifer dropped his salute as Fujin and Raijin walked out to the elevator.  "Hey, Squall."  The dark haired boy with Rinoa at his side turned to face Seifer.  "Raijin, Fujin and I were thinking.  The monsters in the training center are weak.  They're low-level and, many times, one hit kills them, even T-Rexaurs.  We were wondering if it was possible to import some high-level monsters, you know, one's that offer a challenge."

  "You know I'm with you on this one, but we can't.  Too many untrained members of the Garden go in there.  We can't put monsters in that they would never have the chance of beating.  But…" Squall looked around, a hint of conspiracy in his gray eyes. "If you can con Selphie out of the keys to the Ragnarok, then you can go out and train in the field with high-level monsters," Squall then nodded to Seifer and walked over to where Cid was standing in order to discuss Caine's punishment.  Seifer watched as Squall walked away thinking about how much candy he would need for Selphie to give him the key.  He was so lost in his calculations that the tapping on his shoulder startled him.

  "A little bird told me you're taking the girl in that report out tonight, is it true?" Seifer looked down and met Rinoa's gaze.

  "What little bird?" Seifer said, narrowing his gaze.

  "Oh, just one that mentioned you might be taking this mystery girl out tonight.  Why?"

  "I don't know, you tell me," Seifer replied in a snotty tone.

  "Fine, so you don't know.  Here is a better question, where are you going to take her?" Rinoa tried again to pull information from Seifer.

  "Ah, and another answer I don't have.  You know there are still plenty of places that I'm not welcomed.  Plus I don't want this to be a date.  I'm not going to be anyone's knight, ever again," Seifer said, unable to keep the raw tone from his voice.

  _Sounds like you already are to me, Rinoa thought.  Aloud she said, "Why don't you just take her to train in the field with you?  You wanted to practice on high level monsters, so here is your chance."_

  Seifer just nodded, acting completely uninterested in her idea.  "Yeah, thanks," he said absently and headed for the elevator.  He had a shitload of candy to buy.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  _If this is some joke or if that fucker ditches me, so help me Hyne, I'll do it, Skyeli thought as she stood in front of the directory at 6:54pm.  _Come on, come on, come on.  Okay, calm down, breathe in and don't be hysterical.  Today is just like every other day.  Getting invited out by one of the most attractive SeeDs here is just an everyday occurrence.  Who the hell am I trying to kid?  No it's not!  He's probably got a fan club just like all of them do.  Maybe I should join…  Oh, now that's just sick…__

  It was at this moment, when Skyeli's thoughts were becoming even more twisted than ever, that Seifer strode up.  She stood there, looking out towards the entrance, oblivious to his arrival.  He took the moment to look her up and down.  No longer in her Garden uniform, Seifer could almost describe her outfit as indecent.  The jean skirt she was wearing was so short that it cut off only two inches bellow her butt.  Around her waist was a striped belt of blue and pink.  Her tee-shirt was a light blue-purple color with a collar.  Skyeli's shoes were probably the most sensible part of the outfit, white Adidas with three blue stripes.

  "Didn't feel very formal tonight," he said in her ear, causing her to jump and to spin around and face him.  He caught her eyes.  They were such a pale blue color, not very remarkable at all…

  "Something told me this wasn't going to be an average night on the town," she retorted, "Besides look at you, gray coat, blue shirt, and leather pants.  Bet you brought that gunblade along too…"

  "It has a name, you may call it Hyperion.  Speaking of which, did you bring your weapon?" he asked.

  "Yeah," she reaches into the special cosmic rip where all weapons/magical items are stored for anime and RPG use.  Pulling out the glaive she said, "You know, is it healthy to name these things or is that a male thing?  You name what you consider to be your most valuable appendage and then you have to name one of the many other phallic objects you own?  Doesn't it seem a little absurd?" She looked up at him; he stared down at her, mouth open in surprise.  He quickly composed himself.

  "No, it's not stupid.  Let's go.  I managed to get the key for the Ragnarok off of Selphie's neck."

  "How did YOU ever manage that?  Is she okay?  Is she conscious?" she asked, trying to look as genuinely concerned as she possibly could.

  Seifer glared at her.  "I didn't beat her up!  All I did was offer her some pixie sticks and gumdrops.  And then, while she was bouncing around the room, I helped myself to the key…"  Skyeli sighed and shook her head.

  "I shouldn't have asked.  Let's go…"

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Seifer landed the Ragnarok easily in the middle of the Esthar continent.  He looked to the brunette sitting at his right.  The land in front of her captivated her, a land she had never seen before.  The almost excited expression on her face made Seifer believe that she had no understanding of the dangers of Esthar.  _Hyne, I really hope she is that level 65 that she claims to be.  Suddenly, Skyeli sat up straight, folded her hands in her lap and grew very professional._

  "So, let me see if I've got this right.  In an effort to cheer me up, you've stolen," she was cut-off here by Seifer.

  "I didn't steal it!"

  "Fine, you _borrowed the keys to the Ragnarok from Selphie, dragged me off to Esthar and now we are going to fight whatever we encounter?" Skyeli looked at him out of the corner of her eyes._

  The blonde giant smiled his approval.  "Yeah, pretty much…"

  "And this is going to make me feel better about myself how?"  Although he was unprepared for the question originally, Seifer recovered quickly enough.

  "The adrenaline rush before the fight, the action during the fight and the glory after the fight, how could you not feel better about yourself?"

  "I won't be feeling too great if whatever out there kills me," and even though all Seifer heard was, "I… feel… grrrr… whateve… kill…" he was still smart enough to piece it all together.

  "What… oh, please," he rolled his eyes, "I'll protect you, come on."  Seifer said as he jumped out of his seat, grabbed her arm and pulled her out the door.

  "Oh, my knight…" she muttered too quietly for Seifer's ears.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  While the young pair of warriors made their way through Esthar, life was slowly passing by for those on board Balamb Garden.  The Garden was currently stationed in the ditch where it used to permanently reside.  Outside, in the small town of Balamb, Rinoa sat across from Squall at a small table in the restaurant section of the Balamb Inn.  The raven-haired girl stared at her boyfriend, and then glanced down at her watch.  _Five minutes and thirty-four seconds since he last moved.  Eight minutes forty-six seconds since he last spoke._  She tilted her head, making a last attempt to catch Squall's eyes, when that failed, she spoke.

  "Um, Squall, would you like to share what you're thinking about or should I just keep guessing?" Rinoa asked lightly.

  "Hmm, sorry, did you say something?" he replied after looking around to find the speaker and when he finally realized it was his girlfriend, he focused on her.

  "Yeah, are you going back to your introverted phase, because if so, let me know, so I can kick your ass right now."

  "No, no, I was just thinking about things," Squall tilted his head back and gazed out through the glass ceiling.  "Look up, Rinoa," he said softly.

  As she turned her eyes to the skies above, Rinoa caught a glimpse of the tail end of a shooting star.  It was of course what Squall had intended for her to see.  He had looked through the almanac two weeks earlier in order to find the date and time of the next such occurrence.  Rinoa wasn't aware of all this planning though, she just experienced exactly what he had known she would.  She looked up at the motionless stars and saw the shadows of a shooting star from two years before.  She was transfixed by her memories and only snapped out of the trance when she felt a slight tug on her finger.  She looked down.

  Taking a deep breath Squall began his speech, "I know that I'm difficult.  I'm usually self-contained and moody, but I've been changing, Rinoa.  Because I love you, and I want you to be happy.  Our lives are about to get even more complicated by my promotion and your SeeD exam, but I want to do this.  Will you marry me?" he finished, letting the rest of his breath out and vowing not to draw another until she answered.  When she didn't answer immediately, he looked up.

  Rinoa's eyes were filled with tears and fixed on him.  It seemed for the first time in her entire life, she was absolutely speechless.  Squall reached across the table to rest her cheek in his hand.  She slowly nodded into his hand, whispering, "Yes."

  Squall just smiled and moved around to the side, standing above her he offered his hand.  "Forget dinner, I'll make you something nice."

  Rinoa smiled through her tears and nodded.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Selphie picked up the note labeled "Last One" off the plant in the library.  She loved this game.  The spunky girl had been tracing these notes throughout the Garden for the last half an hour and she was finally going to see what Irvine was up to.  Of course it was him who made this set-up.  No one else was quite so slick.  Opening the card, she read the final direction:  "Go to the location of the Garden Festival."  _This one was way too easy, Irvine, she thought as she shot off towards the Quad._

  Quistis leaned against the railing outside of the Infirmary.  Adjusting the glasses on her nose, she sighed and waited for Zell to meet her.  She had just been covering for Dr. Kadowaki while she was on break.  The slim blonde surveyed her area; Zell was late, but he would no doubt arrive in a rush.  Quistis turned and faced the hallway coming from the dorm, assuming that Zell would be coming from his room.  As a result of this change of direction, she never even saw the yellow blur targeted at her.

  Selphie was reaching top speeds trying to get to the Quad in the least amount of time possible.  She hadn't even noticed the pink figure in front of her until it was much too late to turn.  When they collided, Quistis went down and Selphie flew over her landing with her butt popped up into the air, the two women both groaned in pain.  Zell, who was coming down from the classroom, regarded the accident scene with much amusement.

  "Yo, Selph, I'm going to have to give you a ticket for speeding in the hallways," he said as he pulled Quistis to her feet and leaned her against the guardrail.  He walked over to his friend, still sprawled on the floor, and perched down beside her.  "So is there any reason you were trying to break the sound barrier?"

  "Uh… no…  I just left something in Quad, and I wanted to get it really quickly," she lied lamely, and pulled herself into a sitting position.  Zell stood and helped her the rest of the way up.

  "You okay now?" Selphie bounced from one foot to the other, then smiled and nodded.  "So going to take it a little slower now?"

  "Tee hee, yeah.  See you guys," the last comment was thrown back at them as Selphie again took off in the direction of Quad, this time going only slightly slower than the speed of light.  Zell shook his head and chuckled as Quistis lead him off towards the dorms.

  "So…" the instructor prodded.

  "Right, so, I didn't really plan anything for tonight, do you want to just chill? We could…" Zell never got the chance to finish because Quistis smacked him upside the head with the handle of Save the Queen.

  "Come on, hopeless, we'll find something interesting to do if it kills us…"

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Selphie entered the Quad cautiously.  She had only assumed it was Irvine that wrote the notes, but it could have been one of her psycho stalkers.  All of them had had them since the arrived back from Ultimicia.  The Trepies were, of course, the worst as they had been around for the longest time.  Even D.C. had little wannabes following them around.  When she thought of any girl who would actually _like_ Seifer, Selphie shuddered in disgust.  Sure, they had all formed a mutual truce with him, but he never changed much.  He was still cocky and mean most of the time.

  By this point Selphie had made it down to the stage without detecting anyone and without being detected herself.  Irvine sat on the stage looking at the flowers in his hands.  White roses.  Irvine's ponytail was falling over his shoulder in a distracted manor.  Selphie approached slowly, as she managed to keep from bursting into laughter.  "Waiting for someone, stud?" she said, even closer to laughing than before.

  Irvine spun around like he had been struck.  When he finally registered that it was Selphie standing before him and not one of the students he gave her a lazy smile.  But the smile ill-concealed his nervous demeanor, "I've been thinking about us a lot lately.  We've been together for nearly two years now, and so, I was wondering… that is, I thought maybe it would be right if we… oh forget it, I'm just going to say this, Selphie Tilmitt, will you make love to me tonight?"

  Selphie's jaw dropped, but she slowly fixed her face and lead Irvine off to the dorms, forgetting the flowers on the stage.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  "Seifer, I'm not going in there," Skyeli said, making reference to the forest the elder boy was heading straight for.  "It's getting too dark, besides I'm tired."

  "Oh don't worry so much about it.  We haven't fought anything worth talking about yet.  Just some low level…"

  "Uh, Seifer…" she warned softly, backing away from him.

  "Don't interrupt, _kid!" he sneered the word, "Come on, I must have had a lapse this afternoon when I met you, but I feel normal now.  I came here to fight something up to the challenge, so let's get going!" he shouted at her._

  "Fine then, _Sir Almasy.  You want a fight, I've got one for you.  Turn around Seifer," she smiled tartly and adjusted the Glaive in her hands.  Seifer glanced over his shoulder, then immediately swung around reaching for Hyperion.  He was a foot away from a Hexadragon._

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

A/N:  So there's chapter three.  I'm sorry it took forever and a day.  My school sucks.  Also I'm really sorry about the sap, even I was gagging.  But this is the romance section, and I'm required to give you sappy love scenes.  Next chapter should earn its "R" rating.  Also, do you think Seifer got back into character this time?  REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW and tell me.  Thanks.

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight off everyone on FF.net for them.  Skyeli Paige, Caine Morningstar and Reiko, so please don't steal them.  They're all a little nuts anyway. . .


	4. having fun yet

One Good Deed

By Caelia

Chapter Four: having fun yet

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  She hit the tree on the center of her back.  The noise was so loud, she was sure she the damn dragon had broken her back.  Surprisingly, Skyeli's back had broken the tree, and not the other way around.  Slowly she pushed her self up to a crawling position, keeping all fours on the ground, but trying desperately to lift her leg up and get back in the fight.  Seifer looked back at her just before calling out, "Magic… Cast… Fira!"

  "No!" Skyeli surged to her feet and limped as fast as she could to Seifer.  She had several gashes in her legs, causing the simple act of walking a few feet to be a most painful experience.  Seifer had been cut in his side and looked scorched due to all the fire attacks.  "What are you, crazy?" she demanded, as soon as she got close enough.

  "Gotta fight fire with fire!" he called back.

  Skyeli shook her head; this battle had been lasting way to long.  "Not when the thing you're fighting absorbs fire attacks, Seifer!" She then turned to the monster before her and waving the Glaive in small circles above her head as she called out, "GF Summon… Leviathan… "  Immediately, he faded behind a force-field, blocking him from the worlds view but allowing him to see the world.  While Skyeli's powers were intermingled with those of the Guardian Force, Seifer stared on in wonder.  He had never seen someone cause that much damage with a GF.  That kind of power almost made him want to practice more carefully with his own…

  The water receded into oblivion, leaving Skyeli standing among the trees panting.  As soon as her breath came at an easier pace, she tried physical attacks, futile as it was, on the creature while Seifer took up the cue to magic.

  "Magic… Cast… Double…" he called out, casting on himself.  He then faced Skyeli and cast Full-Cure on them both.  The cuts on her legs and his side instantly disappeared, they looked revitalized, but you could see how tired the pair actually was.  With this done he picked up the physical attacks on the beast, giving his brunette partner the opportunity to strike with magic.

  Skyeli quickly cast Triple and then attacked the monster at his weak point: water.    
"Magic… Cast… Aqua…" Hexadragon choked and fell down, disappearing into the dust.  Skyeli turned to smile at Seifer.  "Was this fun enough for you?"

  "Best time all year," he murmured as he turned on his Enc-None junction.  "Alright, kid, you look about as beat as I feel.  We can leave now."  He wasn't offering, he was commanding.  Skyeli didn't care.

  "Sounds good to me, I'm ready to drink some potions, take a shower and go to bed," she replied.  Using her Glaive as a walking stick, she made her way back to the Ragnarok slowly, all the time behind Seifer.  Not once did he look over his shoulder to check on her, but when they finally reached the space ship, he decided to break the silence.

  "So, why were you sulking around today anyway?" he questioned.  _Not that I care,_ he reassured himself mentally.  "Were you just upset about that idiot ex-boyfriend of yours?"

  "No… " _Should I be talking to him about this?  Well, asshole, who else is there?  Reiko went home…  "I guess I just missed my parents…" __and I'm depressed.  My best friend is more interested in herself than anything else, and the sad thing is I don't have any other friends in this world.  I'm different…  She smiled, "Maybe it's just my time of the month."_

  "Ewww…" Seifer scrunched his face into one of utter disgust, trying desperately not to think of _icky feminine things_.  But for Skyeli his face was too much to take.  Here she was, overtired and dirty, sitting next to the ex-Sorceress's Knight, and she had him making the most ridiculous face by a simple mention of her menstrual cycle.  Before she knew what else to do, she had hit the floor laughing.  "So glad you find this amusing…" Seifer grumbled, still a little appalled, as he took off.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Fujin tossed her weapon out in front of her and caught it easily on the return.  It was just another part of her image, as far as Raijin was concerned.  It was just another way for people to underestimate her, Fujin lived for that.  When the Discipline Committee was having its peak, Fujin would always take on the ones that towered above her.  Students and faculty built like himself and Seifer.  They all looked down on her, seeing only a slight woman, standing just over five feet tall, lacking the use of one eye and carrying a non-threatening, circular weapon.  They would taunt her first, but when in a moment they were flat on their backs, staring up in the gray eye of the victorious Fujin, they could find no one to blame but themselves.  After all, they started it…

  This evening while the "Heroes" of Balamb Garden were resting up, Fujin and Raijin stood in front of the Discipline Room, the same one that had held Seifer.  Since the blonde had disappeared before they could assign him to the guard duty, Fujin and Raijin kept Caine Morningstar confined to the small, whitewashed room.  They had only one hour left until their replacements showed up.  Raijin smiled at that thought.  _One of the perks of having a fan club; new members of D.C. to train.  So, the wannabes can sit up all night guarding a cell, while I get to sleep in my warm bed…  But it didn't matter if they got relieved in an hour or two, they had to wait for Seifer's return.  They were to tell him Headmaster Cid and Squall's final decision._

  "So, how much longer, ya know?"

  "FIFTY-SIX.  STOP ASKING."  It was the longest statement he had gotten out of Fujin in years.  Raijin, optimistic due to this long response, decided to push for a full conversation.

  "So think he's going to take to this new one?  He almost swore off girls for a whole week, ya know!"  He tested the water; he tested Fujin against every rumor they'd ever heard, scrutinizing every look she'd ever given to Seifer, looking into every doubt he'd kept buried in his heart.

  "SHUT UP!"  There was no warmth there, Raijin reflected, just, as Fujin would say, RAGE.  Fujin had moved to block Raijin from her sight, hunching over she put her back to him and remained transfixed by the ground.  Raijin was provoking her that was clear enough.  Despite his skill for military strategy, he could not think up a sly way of asking her about her feelings for Seifer.  Then again, his battle approach was one of head-on, physical attacks.  This confrontation was the only one he could think up to get her to spill on her feelings for Seifer.  If this comment on Seifer's personal life didn't work he would another angle, only with increased stupidity and desperation. 

  "Hey Fujin, what's wrong, ya know?"  Obviously she had let her silence run on for too long.  

  "I give up," she replied quietly, turning slowly back towards Raijin.  Ever fiber in her being doubted her ability to do this, to say this.

  "Give up on what?" he said, praying to Hyne that the answer would be simple and short.  In theory only one word was required: Seifer.  Fujin, however, felt more words were necessary.

  "ON WHAT?" she began.  "On you, of course.  Why are you so dense?  I gave up on Seifer years ago!  He had a new girl each week and I was NEVER one of them, so I got used to it.  But you!  Believing rumors flying through the Garden that I love Seifer?  You should know better, you're my best friend!  More than that!  I'm tired of waiting for you!"

  
  "Fuj…" Raijin attempted at an explanation, but was cut off by Fujin wrapping her arms around his next and pulling his head down into her kiss.  Fujin was ecstatic when Raijin actually tightened his arms around her waist and fell into the kiss.  It made her feel wanted for the first time in her life.  The two would have stayed that way forever, basking in a dream that neither had ever thought possible.  They were creating a world even they could finally be at peace.  They would have stayed that way, but they were interrupted.

  Somewhere in the background, a female coughed.  She was quickly followed up by a male voice, a familiar voice, filled with laughter.  "Took you long enough."

  Raijin pulled away as a crimson flush covered his entire body.  Fujin just pulled back and flicked her wrist at the back of her neck.  Standing before her, tall and straight, was Seifer, who was obviously refreshed by his battle.  Dangling off his arm like a limp, old bracelet, was the girl from earlier that day.  She looked worn, thinner than she had been this morning, and much more exhausted.  Fujin wouldn't offer any sympathy though, if the girl wanted to make it as a SeeD she need to get used to training sessions that aren't as easy as those found in the Training Center.

  Skyeli caught Fujin eye.  She saw the disgust that lay behind the glassy, gray surface.  _She thinks I'm weak.  Not wanting to be the recipient of such a gaze any longer Skyeli did her best imitation of the boy next to her.  She failed miserably._

  "I think I'll go to bed now," the _kid_ announced to no one in particular.  Tentatively, she removed her hand from Seifer's sleeve.  "Thanks.  You were right, I do feel better."  And with that she was content just to walk away.  But his voice called her back.

  "Yeah, so, if you're not busy with something else tomorrow, _kid_, maybe I'll see you."  He smiled, offering her a stance that mimicked the one he had displayed earlier that day: standing so proud, so shameless in that same open manor as if he was holding the world out for her.

  "Right, _Sir_ Almasy.  Goodnight," and with a wave of her hand she walked off.  Seifer stared after the girl for as long as he could, confusion stirring in his green-blue eyes.  If anyone else had had the nerve to call him "Sir" he would have gone after them.  In fact he was still not sure why he wasn't holding her by the neck a foot off the ground.  But shaking his head, Seifer focused back on the girl.  If anyone looked at her they would have known immediately that she had just been through a great battle: her clothes were torn in several places, her limp was becoming more apparent with each step and her head was hung low due to exhaustion.  But that was if any person outside of Garden looked at her.  If anyone inside of Garden saw her, they would have thought that five burly, thugs had jumped her.  SeeDs are energized after a victorious battle.  At least that was what he had noticed over the years.  They never look so worn out unless they lost, and if they lost they were dead.

  "So what did you do that made her feel so much better, ya know?" Raijin asked as the grin that Fujin's kiss had put on his face spread due to Seifer's distraction.

  Fujin placed her hand on her hip and tilted her body ever so slightly, putting forth the only feminine pose she knew.  Seifer looked down at her, swearing that he had never seen someone trying to look so innocent.  Just as he convinced himself that she was going to defend him, Fujin busted out with the question.  In her loudest voice she asked, "SEX?"

  "Oh you two think you're so smart, don't you?  Well, I'm going to bed too." Seifer made a grand bow, holding out the ends of his trench coat, and started to walk away.

  "Hey!  Wait!  We've got stuff to report, ya know?"  Raijin turned to the silver-haired woman at his side and the two nodded at each other.  "Fujin, tell him."

  "AFFIRMATIVE." She cleared her throat, "After following your suggestion that he have a talk with the resident psychiatrist, Cid and Squall decided to give him two days in-house suspension and are allowing him to take his SeeD exam as scheduled," Seifer opened his mouth to protest.  "Let me finish before you scream the building down around us.  The kid has a spotless record.  He's never been in trouble before, and he passed the psyche-evaluation, Seifer.  No stalking or domineering tendencies what so ever.  Your little fuck buddy…"

  "Don't call her that Fuj," he warned quietly, but Fujin paid him no heed.

  "… on the other hand, is notoriously introverted according to Selphie's notes on her.  She only appears to have one friend and is given to dilutions.  Since no one witnessed who provoked the fight, and Caine," Fujin jerked her thumb in the direction of the door, "is claiming that she did, Headmaster decided to punish him lightly.  We did witness him push her to the ground, after all."

  "We were worried about you, ya know?  Going out into the Esthar wilderness with a confirmed psychopath isn't good for the health Seifer," Raijin said extending his hand and placing it on the shorter man's shoulder.

  Seifer brushed it off and smirked, "You think that I couldn't handle myself against one little, head case of a girl?  Heh.  Remember who gave Squall his scar?"

  "Remember who gave you yours," Fujin answered.

  Imitating the younger SeeD, Seifer folded his arms across his chest and looked off to the side, "Whatever," he mumbled.  Fujin giggled and Raijin clapped him on the back again.  "I'm going to bed now," he waved his hand at the pair and left them to their earlier, er… discussions.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Around the corner a female body had pressed itself tightly against one of the pillars.  Hearing the conversation ending, she slid down until she was resting on her butt with her arms wrapped around her knees.  Slowly she began to rock back and forth as the paranoia struck her.  It had been a long time since she used magic or GF, the summons today had drained Skyeli.  She had just been out of sight when she realized she needed rest again.  Unfortunately for her, Skyeli was not out of hearing range.

  The entire conversation had drifted down the hallway to her.  While it was going on, she wondered if other students were sitting up, listening to their leaders talking.  By the time it finished she had come to the conclusion that it didn't matter whether the students on this hallway heard or not.  They already avoided her and thought her insane.

  It was Seifer that was upsetting her so much.  He confused her.  One minute nice, the next minute demanding.  He had accepted Fujin's explanation easy enough.  Didn't even care when she said they were "fuck buddies".  So, that's how he would play it out, Seifer screws the crazy girl then drops her.  Using her hands she dragged herself, up the wall, thinking _I knew I shouldn't have gone out tonight._  She made her way down the hallway humming softly to herself.

  "I do it for the joy it brings… because I'm a joyful girl… because the world owes me nothing… and we owe each other the world… I do it because it's the least I can do… I do it because I learned it from you… I do it just because I want to… because I want to."

  Skyeli faced her door.  She lifted her hand to enter in the code, but found she couldn't concentrate enough to enter it.  Not that it would matter if she could remember the code; her hand was shaking so badly, she had no chance of being physically capable of entering it.  She still had that vow that she made earlier in the day.  Tonight.  Today.  It was 11:47pm.  She still had time, just not energy.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  2:06am and she was still broadcasting.  Neither of them realized what was happening.  Skyeli only believed herself to be dreaming, quite helpful dreams at that.  At this moment she was reclining next a river.  In her hand she was holding a well-used copy of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.  Skyeli had walked all the way from her house to read Septimus's self-slaughter.  She smiled.  Railing spikes were so messy.  She wanted to be a fish, she'd follow Woolf.

  Seifer sat across the raging river, waiting for the girl in white to look up from her book.  She was so still at times he doubted her to be anything more than a statue or a painting.  At last her head shot up, a malicious grin grew across her face.  Slowly, deliberately, she stood up and from his bank Seifer mirrored her every movement, until finally Skyeli put one foot into the water.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Seifer blinked his eyes open.  Seven times tonight.  He'd seen try to kill herself seven times now.  A lesser man would have thought it a dream.  A sign of his guilt.  Yes, that was it.  He felt bad about calling her crazy…

  …No that wasn't it.  He didn't feel bad.  He felt like she killed herself seven times tonight.  He felt like sleep would only bring an eighth time.  Forget sleep it didn't matter.  She didn't matter.  Today had been long.  In the morning he would wake up and be Seifer again.  No soft feelings for anyone.  He would see her in the morning or he wouldn't either way, he was certain she was still alive.  Wasn't she…?

  At 6:30am Seifer gave up all attempts at sleep.  During the long hours of the night he'd fallen asleep twice.  Each time he made it about twenty minutes into a dream before Skyeli's mind sought him out.  Pushing the covers off, he stared at the ceiling.  After finding no answer there, Seifer rolled out of bed and trudged off to the bathroom for his shower.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Every morning like clockwork, by 7:30am Skyeli could be found in the Training Center.  She was especially eager to get start working out because of how sore she was from yesterday.  She pulled her hair back into a simple braid, stepped into her usual outfit and headed off for breakfast.

  Skyeli felt light this morning.  That is to say, she felt untouchable.  Death had a very soothing effect on her.  Throughout the Second Sorceress War she had kept her cool above anyone in her class.  Many would whisper behind her back that her lack of fear was due to her welcoming death.  That was a little melodramatic as far as Skyeli was concerned.  She didn't welcome death, she didn't even call it.  She just accepted its presence.  So deep inside her, when she felt this calm, she knew death would follow.  It's the only thing to be certain of.  Except this time she was decided on her own death.

  With that in mind Skyeli Paige took the next turn with all the confidence in the world and walked straight into Seifer Almasy.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

A/N:  Alright, lots of explaining to do.  Well, when Skyeli is dreaming about killing herself I'm making some (obvious ^_^) references to Virginia Woolf.  When I said she'd follow Woolf, I meant she'd drowned herself as that is how Virginia Woolf killed herself.  By just walking the river near her home.  Mrs. Dalloway is a book by Woolf in which, the character Septimus, a shell-shocked survivor of WWI, eventually throws himself out the window onto the spike railing in front of his London flat.

Whew!  Hope that explained anything.  Anyway, mucho thanks to Vick330 and Pink-Flames!  I'm really glad that you guys like the fic so much and I promise to post faster!

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight off everyone on FF.net for them. Skyeli Paige, Caine Morningstar and Reiko, so please don't steal them. They're all a little nuts anyway. . .


	5. breakfast club

One Good Deed

By Caelia

Chapter Five: breakfast club

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

The collision was slightly more chaotic than Skyeli would have expected. She was certain that someone of her height and body mass would have simply been knocked to the ground when making the mistake of running into the 6'2" wall that is Seifer Almasy. She had no expectation of returning the favor by taking him down with her, but she did anyway. So there they sat, Skyeli struggling to regain her happiness and Seifer groping around after his rude awakening.

"Damn…" Skyeli muttered, starting to move away from the boy. "Ruined already." After she tugged her short skirt down to a slightly less revealing level, she offered her hand to help Seifer up. _Even if he's an ass who thinks I'm crazy, I can be the bigger man… or woman, oh whatever._

If he had been even remotely aware of his surroundings, Seifer would have instantly brushed off her hand and gotten up on his own. But that was not the case this morning; Seifer hadn't slept at all thanks to this _kid_. And even after the vows he had made to himself this morning, somewhere inside of him, he felt relieved to see her alive. Seifer had been reaching for her hand, but then shook his head, remembered who _he_ was and stood up without assistance.

"Hyne, kid, I knew you would want to see me again, but so soon?" Seifer gave her a condescending smile.

"Right, and I _knew_ that this day was to good to be true. Why are you awake? Are you sure you're allowed out in the daytime? You know with all that deadly sunlight…" Skyeli continued to mumble at the superior ranking student.

"Ah, shut up. I couldn't sleep at all last night, so I don't exactly feel like having my nocturnal life attack by some certified psycho!" Seifer stopped, "Uh, I didn't mean…"

"Sure you did," the brunette replied easily enough. "If you didn't really believe it to be anything more than a general insult, you wouldn't have stuttered after saying it. So now you've got a 'certified psycho' on your hands," she pulled out her Glaive, "and she's armed. What do you do?" Skyeli winked and placed the tip of the weapon to his throat.

Seifer backed up, putting his hands up in front of him in mock defense. Grinning, he spoke smoothly, "Take her out to breakfast and pray that she doesn't poison my food?"

"Good enough," she replaced the weapon into its cosmic storage bin. Seifer made a sweeping gesture with his arms, allowing her to lead the way. After returning the favor with a deep curtsy of her own, Skyeli took off without a second glance back.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

The cafeteria was deserted. The cashier was probably no more than a student worker, although it was impossible to pinpoint an age for the slumbering body lying facedown on the counter. Even though breakfast opened at 6:30am, most students didn't show up until 8:55am. Five minutes before the first classes of the day began and just enough time to grab a muffin or a hot dog… (or not, that's a little gross).

Seifer nudged the woman behind the register back into reality, where she proceeded to accept money for his eggs and bacon with black coffee at a heavily discounted price. Her eyes roamed his body in such a way that he would have had to be blind in order to miss the offer. Skyeli gave an unladylike grunt, shoved Seifer out of the way and smiled at the girl. The girl sneered in return, charging full-price for her bran muffin and grapefruit juice. Seifer searched out a table in the back corner of the cafeteria in an effort to avoid the longing stares from the girl he had dumped last week. He was almost sure he saw recognition written on Skyeli's face, but owed it up to the two attending some of the same classes, rather than _competition_. Seifer chuckled at that thought.

"What's so funny?" his captor asked of him as they sat down.

"Nothing…"

"Really, cause I thought that maybe you were laughing at your cleverness. You know being able to avoid that statutory rape law…" Skyeli gave him a coy look from her down turned head.

Seifer nearly choked on his coffee, "What do you mean?" he exploded.

Skyeli picked her head up and rolled her eyes in response. "Are you serious? Seifer, that girl is in some of my classes. I mean, just look at her. Can't you tell she's only 15? … Judging by the look on your face, I guess not…" She allowed her voice to trail off, craning her neck to the side in an effort to get another look at the girl.

"Just stop. No, I couldn't tell. She's a little more endowed than most 15 year olds." Seifer gritted out through his teeth, concentrating thoroughly on his eggs. "So, you heard us talking last night?"

"Guess so. How did you know? I was very quiet and very, very still, " She said doing her best imitation of a mouse.

"I bet you were so, no, I never noticed you last night. It was the way you reacted to me earlier. You didn't seem surprised by my knowledge; it was like you already accepted that fact. And we both know that only the student's teacher and the headmaster have access to such files. I could never see them until you involved in some sort of disciplinary skirmish, as you were yesterday. But it would have taken until dinner last night for Headmaster to finish with all the paper work and we had already left by then."

Skyeli nodded, taking in all that he had said. It made sense. But the problem still remained. "So… what do you think? I mean, you sounded convinced enough by your friends last night. Do you really think that I'm the one to blame?"

"They are my friends and they wouldn't lie to me, so I guess I believe them when they say Selphie made notes of you as a rather self-sustained student. That is true, isn't it?"

"Yes, that part is true. I guess you could say that I used to have a posse of my own. It consisted of my roommate Reiko and my boyfriend Caine. However, that didn't work out so well, when at the end of last semester the two of them sort of double-crossed me. I knew that Caine had been cheating, but when I caught him on my bed with Reiko that was a little much… As far as being delusional, that's the first I've heard of it."

"Right, so that explains that part, a little. Just one question, kid: if you're so closed off, why are you so open with me?" Seifer stared at the top of her head, willing her to look up and make some contact with him. She did.

Her initial response was to shrug and to reply "I don't know", but Seifer's withering glance caused her to stop after the "I don…" and try and different approach. "Okay, umm… Oh, I got it! I'm in the market for a new best friend!"

"And I'm lucky contestant number 3?" He questioned sarcastically.

"I don't know.  I was just trying to come up with something for your sake. Look at it this way, you appear to be in the same situation that I am. Your two best friends suddenly aren't placing you in the center of their universe. We both saw them in front of the cell last night, Seifer. And even if I don't know much about them, I can tell they are going to be rather busy from now on." Skyeli concluded and looked up at the boy sitting in front of her.

He had been watching her intently throughout the entire conversation. She had been intently watching just about anything else and Seifer found that when her eyes lifted to meet his, he had to shift his gaze. But then he brought it back. Her eyes were gray this morning. How odd, he could have sworn they were blue last night. _Must be contacts._ Seifer quickly ran through the possibilities of an association with this girl. Obviously it would not help his popularity and he wasn't sure if he'd get any sexual favors, as much as he might like to, but still it had potential. He nodded, then said, "Alright, I'll make you a deal. I'll give you two days to prove me wrong about you and about Fujin and Raijin, and we will discuss this friendship thing."

Skyeli didn't even need to think about the offer to know it wasn't worth her time. "Nope, no deal. I've got more important things to do with my day." She gathered the muffin wrapper and stood to leave, but Seifer reached under the table and pushed down on her thigh, causing her to fall back into the chair. "What?"

He shrugged, "Then you set up the terms."

"Why does it matter so much?"

_Because I don't want to be kept awake at night watching you die. Because there is a chance you will understand me. Because I'm tired of being alone. Because I want to keep you safe…_ No, he did not just think that. He would not admit that. "No reason. It doesn't matter."

"Fine then," Skyeli smiled and again moved to leave. Seifer again made his demand that she remain. Skyeli glared at him, and then taking a deep deal, she thought the situation through. "The deal is this, Seifer. When you can tell me why it is so important to you that we hang out, I'll consider this whole friendship thing. And you'd better hurry up, because time is ticking." And with that said, Skyeli was finally able to move away from the table. In her wake she left Seifer to weigh his options.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

Somewhere between the elevator and the Library, Skyeli gave up on going to the Training Center and decided on sleeping her Sunday away. As her door slid shut behind her, the door down the hallway to Selphie's single swished open softly revealing a groggy cowboy. The main force keeping him upright was his girlfriend's hands planted on his back and as she gently pushed him into the hallway, he crumpled due to lack of support.

"Irvy, come on… Wake-up…" Selphie whispered, while lightly shaking him.

"Mnf… don't wanna… ::snore::" was the only response Selphie could pull from Irvine. After several minutes of trying to sweetly point out his surroundings, she finally gave up.

With a spirited kick to Irvine's stomach, Selphie demanded in a hiss, "Wake-up this instant! Quistis is going to be here very soon to discuss the exam, and you are going to get us in trouble if you don't leave!"

Irvine jumped to his feet, kissed his love sweetly and took off towards the male dorms. Unfortunately being around Selphie too much had caused him to loose awareness of his surroundings, so he really never saw the muscular blonde man until he was on top of him.

"Mornin', Seifer," the younger man drawled.

"Second fucking time today!" Seifer called out as he shoved the over-grown cowboy off his chest.

"Uh… anything you'd like to share with the class?" Irvine asked as he regained his equilibrium.

"Nothing you would understand, slick," he mocked as he gracefully removed himself from the ground yet again and proceeded to brush himself off.

Irvine mimicked Seifer's movements, as he too took the standing position and began adjusting his clothes accordingly. "You never know, ace. I'm pretty well informed especially when it comes to women and guns. But why would Seifer Almasy need help with women from lil' ol' me?" Irvine finished his rhetorical question with a smile.

Seifer hesitated before answering, "Yeah, why would I…?" But even so brief of a pause, Irvine quickly picked up on.

"Well shoot," he said, giving a short crack of laughter. Then, seriously he commanded, "Spill it."

Seifer motioned for Irvine to follow him and began moving towards his own room. He had to admit that even during those months when he returned, Irvine was the one person who wasn't cold to him like the others. In fact, Seifer was convinced that the cowboy had been battling for him behind the scenes. He respected him for it. He couldn't imagine how much it would drain a person to fight that loosing battle everyday with his five best friends. Insisting that the group try to remember Seifer as he was before Ultimicia and when that had failed, before the Garden. Seifer shook his head and decided that neither was a very good image.

Irvine stopped and waited behind Seifer as he punched in the code to open his door. _If anyone knows what is going on with this girl, the cowboy has got to be the one because I sure as hell don't._ The green light flashed once on the panel and was followed quickly by the door sliding open. The two men marched inside to Seifer's bedroom. But, not before Seifer noticed that Raijin wasn't around.

"So… gonna tell me what's up now?" Irvine prodded.

Seifer fixed him with a hard gaze. "Tell a soul about this and I will kill you." When Irvine merely nodded in understanding, Seifer relaxed and sat down, motioning for his guest to do the same.

"Does this have anything to do with the girl that you rescued yesterday? Rinoa mentioned that you were taking her out last night…" That_ ought to get him going_, Irvine thought.

"Figures," he mumbled. "Anyway, last night was cool and I wouldn't mind having her for my new girl," _especially since I just found out about that last one._ "But it's weird. She doesn't seem to care if we hang out or not…"

"Loosing some of that magic touch, Seifer?" Irvine chuckled.

"Shut up. I knew you wouldn't understand. I feel like if I'm not her friend and if I'm not there for her, she's going to hurt herself." Seifer finished miserably.

"Whoa, did she say that to you, because Selphie has told me about this one. If you do decide to get close to her, find out what she was like before the Second Sorceress War. Might be interesting…"

Seifer nodded, reminding himself mentally to find out what Irvine meant by that. "So, what do you think?"

Irvine sighed. "You think she's a cool person to hang out with?" A nod in response. "And you want to find out more about her?" Another nod. "And you seriously believe her to be a danger to herself, consciously or not, unless someone intervenes?" A final nod. "Then by all means, do it man!"

"What do I tell her?" Seifer asked quietly.

"Just what you told me. Or if that won't work, make something up. I don't know, but I think I've done pretty well on only three hours of sleep. So I'm off." Irvine tilted his hat to Seifer and left to the room in hope of finding peaceful sleep. Meanwhile down the hallway, Quistis and Selphie were disputing er… important matters…

"Long hair is better!" Selphie shrieked, causing Quistis to wince away from the shorter girl.

"Okay, fine Selphie. Calm down, you win," Quistis said waving her hand at her friend. Although she muttered under breath, "I STILL prefer short and spiky."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, let's get on with this. We're almost done setting up the groups," Quistis said, ever ready to remind her of the task at hand.

"Yeah, the only problem should be pairing off this one: Paige, Skyeli. Whatever you do, Quistis, let's just keep her away from that Morningstar kid." Selphie suggested.

"I think you're wrong there. Don't make that face, I know you taught her, but think about it. She needs to learn to work with people she doesn't get along with. Didn't you mention she had once close friend?" she asked.

"Yeah. Keyling, Reiko. They're all around the same level. Reiko is the strongest, while Caine is the weakest," Selphie answered.

  
"Alright, put the three of them together, and I'll find a suitable SeeD to back them later. So have you picked the SeeD request that will be easiest to accomplish with SeeD candidates?"

"Yep! Got it right here," Selphie went rustling through a large manila folder that had CONFIDENTIAL stamped across the front. "Here we go! There appears to be a large number of elemental monsters around the Tear's Point. Sir Laguna… I mean President Loire is asking for SeeD to come and clear some of it up."

"Sounds good. Send in a confirmation letter right away. I'll bring the other requests back to Squall and Headmaster Cid so they can fill them as they see fit." Quistis smiled and nodded to Selphie then got up to leave.

"Booyaka! I'm going to catch up on my Z's!" The little ball of energy sprang to her feet and was about to follow Quistis out of the room when the elder SeeD pointed out,

"Selphie, your bed is in there," Quistis explained slowly, while pointing at the door to her room.

"Right," she mumbled softly and walked back into her empty room.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

_Time's__ up, Seifer._

Skyeli rolled slowly to the edge of her bed and lay out on her stomach. Reaching under the covers scrapping the floor, she closed her hand around a leather box. She smiled. Even though she had gone through so many different weapons, she never exactly returned them all. The dagger had been so beautiful she couldn't tolerate giving it up, even if it was never a good match with her. Her smile grew wider, then faded into nothing. _Damn._ There were so many ways to do this, but she figured she should be done with it quickly. She had waited until past eight o'clock at night and if she wasn't quick, her roommate would walk in. Not that she expected Reiko to save her, she just didn't want the interruption.

_The old ways are the best ways._

The smile returned as she guided the blade along the delicate veins of her forearms.

The knock on the door was definitely unwanted. "How anti-climatic…" Skyeli murmured to herself. "Go away!" she shouted to the stranger behind the door.

Seifer stood on the other side. It had taken him all day to get this far, and she was not going to dismiss him that easily. "Skyeli, its Seifer. Let me in."

She was slightly surprised, but unbending. "Seifer, go away! Your time ran out a few minutes ago!" she called back, a little weaker this time. The blood that was draining onto her bedroom floor was taking her energy with it.

"Come on, kid! I want to talk to you its important!" Seifer figured he'd ease into the threats slowly.

"So is this," she said quietly in return. "No!" she cried out, barely loud enough for him to hear her.

Seifer was growing tired of the game. "Skyeli, I'm not kidding, if you don't open this door…" his voice trailed off as someone tapped him on the shoulder. He glanced back and then turned himself fully around to get a look of the girl before him. She was taller and thinner the Skyeli, missing Seifer's height by only half a foot. Her soft, blonde hair looked as though it came from a bottle and was cut just bellow her chin, giving her Garden uniform a very chic effect. Seifer just thought she was trying too hard to be classy.

She offered a cold smile that had a surprising invitation behind it. "Perhaps I could be of service," she purred. "I do live here, after all…"

Seifer returned her chilling smile with one of his own, "So you're Reiko? Yeah, I'd really appreciate it if you let me in."

Reiko moved in front of him, brushing her body up against his in hopes of a reaction. She received none. Slowly she punched the code into the wall panel then continued to block Seifer's path by standing just inside the doorway. "Whatever is that little psycho up to now?"

Skyeli didn't even need to lift her neck to know whose voice she was hearing. "Well damn…"

Seifer's head snapped in the direction of the sound, followed by his body shoving Reiko out of the way. Standing just inside the door of her bedroom, Seifer quickly leafed through a mental list of possible scenarios and settled on one when he saw the dagger. "Shit, Skyeli…" he whispered, still in awe of what he was seeing.

Reiko came up behind him and smirked.

"Took you long enough!"

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

A/N: Oh, my little head case tried to kill herself!  ^_^  I should really not be this abusive to my own characters.  Anyway, kiddies, again reviews are loverly and fabulous and much appreciated and all that good stuff so please REVIEW!

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight off everyone on FF.net for them. Skyeli Paige, Caine Morningstar and Reiko Keyling belong to me, so please don't steal them. They're all a little nuts anyway. . .


	6. falling stars

One Good Deed

By Caelia

Chapter Six: falling stars

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

Reiko tossed her purse down on the island in their joint kitchen and walked into her room letting the door shut behind her. Skyeli remained on her floor, fascinated by the color of her own blood. Seifer, unsure of himself and her, stood frozen in the doorframe. He shook his head, forgetting the nightmares momentarily, and entered the room. As he was lowering himself next to her, Skyeli looked up, smiled and waved. He grabbed the limp arm dangling before him and examined the cut. Pressing the skin back together with his thumbs while ignoring the blood dripping down onto his coat, he chanted Cure.

Even on the brink of collapse, Skyeli could feel the magic working its way through her body. Flowing in by means of her left wrist, then traveling through her heart and ending on her right palm.

It took only moments to heal the self-inflicted wounds, but Seifer knew that gashes such as these, created by severe emotion, would never fade. After all, such a scar marked his face. Removing his coat and opening the bathroom door, Seifer took hold of Skyeli's upper-arms and dragged her up into a position that enabled him to carry her to the tub. He stood over her for a second. One of her legs had gotten caught on the edge and was hanging out. Her matted hair moved about as her head lolled from side to side as she tried to gain enough control to understand her surroundings. He knew then that it didn't matter if he had cast Cure on her; the magic didn't restore the blood that covered the floor.

Leaving her in the tub, he pulled a rag from the linen closet and quickly wiped up her mess. Once finished, Seifer walked over to the telephone and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello? Quistis? I have large favor to ask you…"

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

Her head hurt, bad. She felt like she had just had another long night with Caine. _If this is death, I'm not sure I can handle it…_ But then she knew that the headache wasn't caused by a long night with her ex-boyfriend and Reiko. The suffering was most definitely a result of the bright lighting. She could feel the neon glow through closed eyes and knew that her headache would only grow if she dared to open those eyes. The best she could do to orient herself with her surroundings was to feel her way around.

She didn't realize she couldn't move until her focus moved away from the lights overhead and onto her body. There were tight straps, pressing down on her breasts, stomach, thighs, knees and ankles. She could feel other bindings around her forearms, but wasn't certain that their purpose was to restrain. In a final effort to feel her way out of the situation, she wiggled her fingers. The soft flesh scraped against the plastic blankets. She was somewhere sterile. Reminded her of a hospital…

The voices drifted in…

"I've done this much, you can't seriously expect…" soft, female, but commanding. This one was the Goddess.

"I know, I know, but I really need you to make this happen…" darker and tired, but obviously in control. This one was Hyne.

"Seifer…"

_Seifer…? Well, shit._

"… You cannot really believe that I would allow this girl to take the exam. She has a psychological record, a disciplinary record, and now we're adding on an attempted suicide. This is not SeeD material and you know it." Quistis insisted. "Why are you even fighting for her? She's not a friend of yours."

"I know that, but I think she is more like me than any of you are willing to realize. Being a SeeD might give her more focus. Besides, when did all this psychological problems arise? After the Second Sorceress War?" he asked in hopes of finding a loophole using the information Irvine had earlier hinted at.

"I don't know. I would have to look it up…" she said, faltering.

"Okay then, she hasn't done the GF prerequisite yet, right? Give her to me for the two weeks before the exam. Take her out of the classes and let me train with her, one-on-one. If I can help her to become a successful member of SeeD, Squall might allow me to apply for the instructor position," Seifer softened his tone and gave her an entreating look. "You know how hard I've been working for that…" _Sigh for dramatic effect_.

The blonde instructor couldn't bear they way he was looking at her and turned her eyes to the ground. "Well, I suppose…"

"Great!" Seifer broke off his injured puppy act and immediately got down to business. "Alright, so let's see if we can wake her, because we need to get her out of here before anyone knows any better. You can tell me who you assigned as her partners and her control for the exam later."

Quistis just sighed and followed Seifer into one of the back rooms of the Infirmary, mumbling the entire way. "Would've thought I'd grown out of this… Should've stood up to him… I'm stronger than that… Damnit." Approaching the railing of the bed, Quistis glanced down on the girl bellow her. Even when she should have been fully at ease, tension still drew her porcelain face tight. She wasn't beautiful, but there was something about her that definitely had pull. Quistis's gaze lingered down to the girl's hands. "Looks like the patient is waking up," she said as she pointed down to the moving fingers.

Seifer stopped unfastening the strap across Skyeli's chest and nodded. "Why don't you start down at her feet? It'll move faster," he ordered, returning to the lock he had been toying with. "We're going to need to clean this up so the good Doctor doesn't know we were here."

Quistis unhooked the lock around Skyeli's ankles and moved to her knees. "Once we get her out of bed, you support or hold her or something and I'll put these bonds back where I found them." With that said, the two blondes worked in silence until the final binding had been removed and the last IV tube cleared. Quistis shook her head. "The only thing I won't be able to explain is the blood packet we used."

"Just don't through it out here, and we should be okay." Seifer reached into the bed and placed his hands on the sleeping girl's shoulders. "Skyeli… wake up," he said awkwardly. Quistis looked quickly from one to the other, then reached into the bed and closed a gloved hand around the girl's nose. Skyeli gave a little cough and her eyes sprang open.

Seifer regarded Quistis with shock. "How did you know that would work?"

She just shrugged in response. "Sometimes it works on Zell." She turned to Skyeli. "Do you need help sitting up?" Skyeli barely opened her mouth when Seifer answered for her.

"No time for that. Get ready to move all this shit out of here." With no further warning, Seifer planted his arms firmly around her waist and knees and plucked her out of the bed. The minute Skyeli's butt left the hard, standard bed; Quistis began folding the bindings in intricate manners. Skyeli found that she liked this new resting place, uncomfortable and awkward as it was, much more than the previous one. She could feel one of his hands on her leg and the other was suspiciously close to her breast. But still…

"Seifer, I'm not an invalid. I can walk put me down!" she hissed. He glared.

"Hyne, you are ungrateful. Alright, fine, Quistis is still locking those things up, so we'll try this your way." Keeping the one hand under her arm for support, he dropped the hand holding up her legs and permitted them to fall to the ground. When her bare feet touched the tile floor, Seifer released his hold on her back.

Quistis was shutting the locker when she heard a piercing scream from somewhere across the Infirmary. Glancing down to make sure the lock was in place, she sprinted off to where she had left Seifer. "What happened?! Is everything…" The question died on her lips as she looked a Seifer standing smugly above the crumpled body of Skyeli. Quistis narrowed her eyes. "Seifer! Give me one good reason why I should leave her in your care?"

"I was merely reminding her that sometimes it is necessary to rely on others in order to complete the mission." Seifer flashed a toothy grin to Quistis, and then bent over to pick Skyeli up. "Told you so. You lost too much blood; even with what we gave back to you you're not strong enough. Here, get on my back." He turned back to Quistis, "Ready?" Quistis nodded and lead the way to the exit.

The odd trio made its way quietly through the halls. Ever since Gardenmaster Norg had been destroyed most of the Garden faculty had left, so no one guarded the entrances to the different areas at night. Not that it had really mattered if they were there or not since all the areas, except the Training Center and the Dorms, were locked at night anyway. Because of her job, Quistis had the code to the Infirmary, which made her the perfect person for Seifer to call. They remained together as far as the elevator leading up to the second level dorms for high ranking SeeDs.

Quistis looked over at Seifer. _Reminds me of what Squall looked like when he carried Rinoa to Esthar. In denial every step of the way._ "Remember that tomorrow afternoon, Squall wants to have a lunch meeting. Around noon I think. In the Cafeteria, I'm sure you'll be welcome…" She smiled then let to doors of the elevator close behind her. Seifer turned and walked the rest of the way to Skyeli's room.

He stopped three doors short of her room. "Fuck."

"What? What's wrong?" Skyeli's head popped up from where it had been resting on his shoulder. "Seifer, did you forget? My room is right there."

"Yeah, I remember…" his tone was yielding.

"Um, so go in then." Skyeli urged

"Bet your roommate is in there…"

"I don't know," she sighed. "I'm tired Seifer. What's the point of standing out here? "

"She saw us tonight. Reiko saw you tonight, lying in a pool of your own blood. How are we going to cover up your suicide attempt if she knows? Maybe we can get her to cooperate or maybe since she was only there for a second she won't remember…" Seifer rambled off in desperation.

In an effort to redirect Seifer's focus, Skyeli said the first thing that came to mind. "Listen, Almasy, it's really simple. You just open up these wounds, put me on the floor and let me bleed to death in the middle of the hallway. That way you don't have to worry about what Reiko says. "

Seifer stopped talking.

"Glad to see I have your attention. Seifer, she doesn't care what I do. In fact, she's probably not even in the room anymore. She's not going to tell anyone because it was just, and I quote, 'Another pathetic attempt at regaining popularity.' Reiko thinks that I do shit so people will notice me. The last things she's going to do is draw attention to me, so can I please go to sleep? I have a feeling that I'm going to be very upset in the morning."

"Fine, but I'm staying with you. I'll explain all the changes in the morning. And don't even try to protest, I'm looking at you as a very important investment in my future."

"How flattering…" Skyeli murmured as she dropped her head back onto his shoulder. Seifer said no more and resumed walking to her door, stopping in front of it. She was again forced to lift her head and enter the required code. By this point the stress of the evening had begun to wear on Seifer as well. Walking into the common area, he made a quick note of Reiko's open door and empty bed then turned into Skyeli's room. He dropped her on the bed and then threw himself down next to her. Skyeli fell asleep mid-fall, while Seifer passed out upon hitting the pillow.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

She felt warm waking up. It was an odd sensation. Her bed was always so cold and she wasn't even under the covers this morning. That was of course when she realized she was wrapped around the largest heating pad in the world. She rolled off to her side and propped her head up on her left hand. Skyeli smiled. She was lying between her wall and Seifer. Seifer, who was completely unconscious, lay there with his left arm tossed over his eyes while his right arm disappeared under Skyeli's waist. He had been holding her. Skyeli smiled.

He felt his warmth slipping away. It was a horrible sensation. He was always so cold, inside and outside, and now this newfound protection was leaving him so soon. Seifer grunted and removed his arm from his eyes only to see that he was lying in an empty bed. The blonde warrior jumped out of bed, fully awake now.

"Skyeli?"

The bathroom door pushed open to reveal his temporary roommate brushing her teeth. Her hair and clothes were tangled and rumpled. She pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth, leaned over the sink and spit. "You rang?"

Seifer forced a smirk despite his relief. "Just making sure you didn't repeat last night's escapade."

"Ah, yes. Speaking of which, you have a lot to account for. Number one: why didn't you mind your own business and let me die? Number two: since you didn't do that, what is the Disciplinary Committee going to do to me? And… I can't think of anything else right now, but it doesn't matter anyway. I'm late for class; so, you'll have to answer that later." Skyeli moved to shut the door again so she could change into her uniform without being watched. Seifer's hand blocked the door from closing.

"Don't bother.  We have plenty of time so I'll explain it to you now, kid. I did save you last night, so get used to living 'cause you're going to be doing it for a long time. Also I need you as much as you need me. Without me, you would have been expelled from the Garden last night and admitted to a psychiatric institute. Without you, I have no way of proving that I'm reading to take the Instructor's Exam. To answer you second question; the Discipline Committee isn't taking action against you, because as far as it's concerned nothing out of the ordinary happened last night. And, by the way, you're not late for class since you are no longer part of Instructor Tilmitt's class. That about sums it up." Seifer sped through the explanation.

Skyeli was unconvinced. "Back up, Seifer. What do you mean you need me to take the Instructor's Exam? Since when were you interested in that?"

"Ha, didn't you know? That's my dream these days. Become a SeeD, get Instructor's License. That's it and saving your ass has become my ticket. As of now, you've been removed from the regular program and are now participating in a one-on-one training program. I'm not sure if you'll still be taking the exam at the end of next week, but it's better than what Quistis was offering…"

"Speaking of which, where did you get the right to do all this? You can't just steal me from my classes to conduct some weird experiment on me to see if you can be an instructor!" she exploded, her breath becoming labored. She was tired of being poked and prodded by the entire Garden. She was tired of people never understanding her. When Skyeli spoke again it was near whisper, "Why don't you see? It would have been so much better if you hadn't interfered."

Seifer remained completely unmoved by all her tantrums. "Get used to it, kid, 'cause I did."

"But why?"

He hesitated. He still didn't have an answer to that, no matter how many people asked him. Looking towards the door, he stood and said, "I should go. I need to shower and talk to Squall about the changes. To answer your question, Quistis went to see him at 8:30am before her class and I'm supposed to go in an hour from now at 11am." Seifer walked to the front door and looked back at Skyeli's room. She was leaning against the doorframe, the toothbrush hanging from her mouth. Her eyes were barren and green. _They changed again…?_ Seifer shook his head to clear it. "Get dressed and go to the Training Center for a while. When you get bored, go to the Library and study some of the texts on effective fighting against Elementals. Rumor has it that's what the field exam is based around, and I want you to take this one," he ordered then left.

Just as his back turned she reached out for him, in spite of herself. Glad he hadn't seen her pathetic motioning, she returned to the bathroom. The reflection mocked her. It was a girl. Her face was oval, pale and clear. Her hair was brown with honey gold streaks dripping through it and even despite its messy state; Skyeli knew it added to the girl's beauty. But her eyes destroyed the picture. They were always so blank. They relayed no emotion, no thoughts, nothing. _Maybe it's because they aren't real…_ Skyeli stuck her tongue out at the girl behind the mirror and began brushing her hair.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

The blonde hovered outside the office door. He had raised his hand to knock several times now, but each time he placed it back at his side. _Squall_. They'd always had a mutual admiration for each other's abilities, but had never really formed a friendship. Squall had Irvine and Zell if he needed someone to talk to and Seifer had Fujin and Raijin. It was as simple as that. Seifer hadn't been lying when he had told Skyeli that he wanted to be a SeeD Instructor. But there was another step to his plan. He didn't want to just be accepted by the orphanage gang anymore. He wanted to be part of it. Squall was his ticket into it. He raised his hand a final time and knocked.

"Come in."

Seifer walked into the open room. Squall was hunched over his desk, reviewing some random paper work. _SeeD requests,_ Seifer assumed. _So, if a friendly Seifer is what they want, a friendly Seifer is what they get…_ Squall hadn't even looked up yet to see who had entered his office.

"I was wondering if you had time to think over the request Quistis brought you earlier today." _Damnit, I sound meek!_

Squall tilted his head up and gazed seriously at Seifer. Of course he had thought about it. All morning, in fact. He was even looking over some of Quistis's old files on him at that moment. "So much potential…" It was written everywhere. So why not give him this chance? Lately he had been living up to said potential.

Seifer grunted. "Balamb to puberty boy, come in puberty boy! Can I get an answer here?"

_Some things never change…_ But Squall only smirked in response to the old nickname. "You're sure that you're going to be up to this? Because if this doesn't work out, you go back to the beginning…"

He rolled his eyes then met Squall's penetrating gaze. "I know. I can do this, trust me."

The younger SeeD nodded, "I'll trust you, if you tell me what really happened this morning that had Quistis in here at half past eight." Squall crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Seifer's answer.

"Just what Quistis said. The girl is emotionally unstable and we believe that she would benefit from one-on-one training."

"Ah, except Quistis mentioned that the girl was a loner, so I think that she would benefit more from a classroom setting. Also, what is this emotionally unstable crap?" _Talk your way out of this one Almasy._

"You were a loner and look what a classroom setting did for you. Besides, have you looked at her folders, the girl is certifiable."

"I'm not buying, Seifer. Cut the crap and tell me what's going on or there is no way I'm signing off on this new plan." He moved around the desk and sat back down, pretending to be hard at work again.

"Fine, Squall, have it your way," Seifer attacked with the old bitterness in his voice. "This girl tried to kill herself last night. Don't ask me why, I don't know. All I do know is that she tried to do it and I think that maybe I can help her. Yes, I do realize that the consequences of my actions could result in her successful suicide and I'm willing to take that risk. Also, if you decide to hand her over to me now, I'd appreciate you not mentioning the suicide attempt to anyone."

"Alright, she's yours. But, you're right, Seifer, take good care of her or you'll have more than just a failed attempt at Instructing on your hands." Squall nodded for him to leave, then at the last minute changed his mind and called him back. "There was one other thing. Rinoa wanted you to be the first to know, but she was also afraid to tell you." He paused

_She's pregnant,_ Seifer thought.

"We got engaged on Saturday night," Squall said softly. Seifer was stunned. That he had not expected, but maybe he had…

"Congratulations!" Then he stopped and grinned at Squall. "And good luck, 'cause if I remember correctly, she's a handful."

Squall nodded again. "That's why everyone is gathering at lunch today. You're welcome there too…"

"And I just might show up…" With that Seifer took his leave of the room, in a supremely better mood than he had entered with.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

Yay, chapter six is done. I think it's a little weak; I've been concentrating on other shit. REVIEW. Um, sorry about the cliffhanger last time, but I posted this as quickly as I could. Anyway, thanks for reading. Chapter Seven: fitting in. Trials and tribulations of clichés and friendships.

Vick330: Vick, man I almost gave up on you this time!  Yeah, Skyeli certainly has interesting interactions with her so-called "friends".  Future chapters will get more into her relationship with Reiko, but mostly Caine.

SaiyanPrincessSwatKatLuver: I just wanted to say thanks again for your wonderful review.  I would still really like it if you would beta read my story, so please get back to me.

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight off everyone on FF.net for them. Skyeli Paige, Caine Morningstar and Reiko Keyling belong to me, so please don't steal them. They're all a little nuts anyway. . .


	7. parental controls

One Good Deed

By Caelia

Chapter Seven: parental controls

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Skyeli was simply too tired to study anymore.  The words in the book below her were beginning to blur together.  She almost smiled at the beautiful designs they were making, but stopped short as she remembered their purpose.  _Damn Seifer! She thought.  _He never even bothered to ask her what ability with Elemental Monsters was. _ Instructor Tilmitt had said it was one of her specialties.  However, in Skyeli's mind, it was her only redeeming quality in class._

  She focused her eyes on the book before her, Conquering the Elements by A. Morningstar.  The book had sat on a high shelf, gradually fading over time.  Skyeli ran her fingers over the rough leather cover; it seemed like everyone had stopped studying texts after the Sorceress War.  The Garden had its first real taste of action then and the students made one of two decisions in the aftermath.  Quit the training program and seek out a peaceful life, or remain at Garden but seek action and fighting.  She was always surprised to see how much evil remained in the world.

  Skyeli stood on the balls of her feet and reached up to return the book to its resting-place on the top shelf.  She never noticed the doors of the library opening to reveal Seifer; she didn't hear him creeping up behind.  And she most certainly forgot that she was in a library when he grabbed her around the stomach.

  "Hyne above!  What the fuck?" Skyeli shrieked as she spun around and hit Seifer across the chest with the large volume she was holding.  "Was there a purpose to that?"  She glared at him.  Seifer started to speak, but a chuckle came out instead, followed shortly by a spell of mad laughter.  Skyeli couldn't help but offer a little smirk of her own.

  The loud popping noise sobered the enraptured pair quickly.  The duo snapped around to see one of the librarians.  He was standing stiffly, a hand wrapped around the ruler he had smacked down on the desk, the other extended, pointing to the door.

  "Tch, come on, kid.  He's just pissed 'cause no one comes in here anymore." Seifer threw his arm over her shoulders and lead her out, mouthing to the librarian, "You're on my list."

  As soon as they had entered the hallway, Skyeli angled her head to face him.  "So, Almasy, what's the reason for this good mood?"

  "I could ask you the same, but ladies first I suppose…  Guess who your new instructor is."  Seifer offered her his most evil smirk yet.

  "Do I even have to bother?"

  "Nah, it's a free one really.  Squall granted his royal permission.  On the requirement that I tell him the real reason for your removal from the regular program, which I did.  So, by now all the little 'heroes' probably know about last night's suicide attempt."

  "Um, isn't that a problem for someone who wants to keep my suicide attempt on the down low?" Skyeli asked, growing more comfortable with the muscled arm resting on her shoulder.

  "Nah, I kind of figured this would happen." Seifer stopped walking and took a deep breath and explained the breakdown.  "Basically, Squall will tell Rinoa, who can't keep any secret from Selphie.  She, being the good girlfriend, will in turn tell Irvine.  Irvine will confide in Zell, that is, if Quistis hasn't already.  But, the one good part is, it won't leave that little circle, unless of course Reiko feels the need to spread a rumor.  But that really wouldn't work out to her advantage because she'd be going against some of the highest ranking members at Garden plus Dr. Kadowaki, who believes nothing out of the ordinary happened last night."

  "Oh, well, I guess that helps…"  Skyeli redirected her eyes to the ground as he continued down the hallway.  "So basically, you're in control of me now?"

  "Pretty much."

  "So, you shouldn't really be acting _this familiar with one of your 'students', right?" She didn't know why she was asking him to remove his arm.  She liked it there; maybe it was just that she didn't want to think about what it meant to like being held by Seifer._

  "Ah, but this is in celebration of my victory.  Not only did I get a chance at becoming an Instructor today, I also was personally invited by Squall to a lunch celebrating his engagement.  Even get to bring Fujin and Raijin along…"  He grinned again, to show his utter pleasure with the days accomplishments.

  At this time, they reached to end of the hall and were now standing in plain view of any students passing by.  Skyeli casually rolled her shoulder and Seifer took the hint easily, removing his arm from its resting-place.

  "So, what's my new program?"

  "Pretty similar to the old one, just more like having a private tutor.  We'll have classes and do training sessions in the Training Center and in Balamb." Seifer said, praying it would be as easy as it sounded.  "Also, we need to get you to pass the pre-requisite for the exam: obtain a low-level GF.  We'll be doing that on Wednesday."

  Skyeli just nodded in agreement.  There was nothing else she could do.  They had her trapped.  Of course, she did know one way out.  She pulled up the sleeves of her uniform to reveal her bandaged wrists.  Yes, there was another way out, but she might as well stick this out.  Seifer may be more helpful than he yet realized.

  The ex-knight glanced down at his suddenly silent companion, noticing her staring at her wrist.  "You did a good job of hiding those, I didn't even see them until now…" Seifer murmured, now as mesmerized as she was by the white wrappings.  He snapped out of it quickly, though, noting that there was much to be done.

  "Cover those up," he commanded.  "Okay, it's about 12:30 now, why don't you just take the rest of the day off.  You're probably still a little run down from yesterday and I have a couple of weeks worth of lesson plans to put together in an afternoon."

  "My, my, Seifer Almasy being professional, who knew?" Skyeli teased gently, but Seifer's mood had changed beyond a tolerance for light taunting.

  "That's Instructor Almasy to you," he smiled as he said it.  _Never thought I'd sound so much like Quistis.  "So go, rest, have fun, do something.  I'll see you tomorrow morning at 9am sharp right here."_

  Skyeli smiled and saluted, heading off to the dorms to sleep some more.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Quistis and Selphie had remained at the table in the Cafeteria in order to discuss the SeeD exam choices with Squall.  Although both women were leaning strongly towards the removal of Elemental Monsters from Esthar, they needed Squall's opinion and approval.  They waited patiently while Squall spoke with Rinoa at the door.  Selphie bounced around as she licked the last of her sundae out of the glass dish, while Quistis was very still with her back straight and her hands folded elegantly in her lap.  Every so often she would move to push one of the strands of honey blonde hair out of her face.

  Squall, aware of the two women waiting on him, stood in the doorway making plans for dinner with Rinoa.  When they finally settled, Rinoa left Squall to his business.

  "So what did you two want to talk about?" he asked as he approached the table.

  Selphie put her dish down and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.  Quistis inclined her head towards the Commander and said, "We've been through the SeeD requests and we've decided to help the Esthar government with the monster extermination."

  "Yeah, and then we get to see Sir Laguna again!  Tee hee…" she giggled while Squall rolled his eyes in mock disgust.  Selphie sobered up and pointed to the file in question.  "It says here that President Loire wants to talk to you."

  Squall's face remains emotionless as he nods and stuck out his hand.  "Fine, I'll get on that later.  Give me the other files so I can see to filling the requests with SeeDs."  He turned to leave, then, abruptly changed his mind.  "Selphie, what do you think about this Paige girl?  Do we let her take the exam?"

  Selphie sat for a moment, contemplating her options, then turned to Squall and said, "With the suicide attempt aside, she reminds me a lot of you when I first met you.  Quiet and self-contained, but very intelligent and an excellent fighter.  Everyone has there moments Squall.  No one knows what brought on this little suicide attempt, but maybe Seifer will get that out of her…"

  The two higher-ranking SeeDs remained unimpressed.

  "Selphie, was there an answer in there somewhere?" Quistis asked gently.

  "Yes, I think you should give her the exam.  Is that better?" she chirped.

  "Much," Squall inclined his head to his two friends and took his leave.  Quistis and Selphie walked with each other as far as the dorms, then split as Quistis went to see Zell and Selphie went to review her lesson plan.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  It had taken nearly twenty minutes of sweet-talking the secretary before Seifer was allowed into the file storage room.  Once inside, he walked briskly over to the cabinet labeled "P".  Removing his gray coat, he placed it on a near-by stool and pulled open the top drawer.  Skyeli's name appeared almost immediately.  He had been thinking hard about Irvine's suggestion to look into Skyeli's past.  In the files he found the comments of her teachers previous to Selphie.

  "Bright girl… Charismatic… Always friendly… A little spacey…" Seifer read softly aloud as he scanned the page.  He was shocked by these comments; they in no way resembled the girl he knew to be Skyeli Paige.  When coming across some of the other comments, he frowned.  "Liar… Merciless fighter…"  Seifer couldn't go on; the next part was just too much.

  Jumping up, he whipped on his coat, concealing the file underneath it and exited the room.  As he sped through the hallway, people were literally jumping into the bushes to avoid him.  One even went as far as to throw his girlfriend into the fountain and run.  He continued into the Dorm area and then up as far as the girl's hallway, stopping in front of Room 68B.

  "Skyeli!  Wake up and open this door right now!" he bellowed.  Seifer heard a muffled response from within and then some shuffling.  The door swished open to reveal a girl leaning on the doorframe in a pair of old boxers and a button down shirt, halfway unbuttoned.

  She yawned and grinned.  "We must stop meeting this way Sir Almasy."  She stood back to allow him entrance to the small double.

  Seifer charged in and sat down on her bed.  Skyeli grabbed a glass of water from the kitchenette, and then went to hear what Seifer had to say.  "This is serious.  I was looking through your old files…"

  Skyeli perked up, suddenly interested.  "How did you get access to those?"

  "Never mind, it's not important now," he said curtly.  "What I want to know is very simple.  Was it or was it not true that you were – dare I say it – a Treppie?!?"

  Skyeli looked at him, aghast, but quickly regained her composure.  The image was already forming in her head.  A girl bouncing around the quad; she was happily assisting older students preparing for the Garden Festival.  Her bleached hair was kept short and was worn in pig-tails, though the small, clusters of hair were no longer than an inch.  Her wrists and neck were decorated heavily with cheap plastic jewelry.  She might not resemble her role model in appearance, but one day Treppie #14 was going to be just like her idle…

  "Hey!  You in there?" Seifer called to her.  His loud intrusion had knocked the image of herself, two years earlier, from Skyeli's head.  "I hate it when you do that.  You go all Squall like on me sometimes.  So, going to answer the question or not?"

  "Let me get this straight," she began.  "You went raging through the halls and damn near broke down my door because I was a Treppie when I was 16?"

  "Excuse me if I classify that as an infectious diseases.  So it's true then?  You were a Treppie?" He frowned again down at the folder in his hands, and then looked up at her again.  "That means you were in my class with Quistis for the two months before the Sorceress War."

  She nodded.  "Pretty much."

  Seifer sighed and met her eyes directly, looking down on her crouching form.  He scooted up on the bed so he was sitting next to the headboard and motioned for Skyeli to join him there.  "We have a lot to talk about.  There was so much stuff in the files that was contradictory to the person you are now.  And I quote, 'Happy, charismatic, role-model…' Who the hell is this girl?"

  She pushed off the doorframe, and sat on the bed next to Seifer.  "I suppose that would be me, before the war.  Seeing that first-hand kind of changed my attitude on life," she said staring intently at the bathroom door.  "But it didn't affect me enough to make me quit the Garden."

  "Right," Seifer just nodded, flipping through the folder looking for the other phrases that had caught his eye.  "They called you a liar and delusional, again."  Skyeli didn't respond this time, she just continued to watch the bathroom door with great interest.  Seifer gave her a slight nudge.

  "I told you I don't know what they are talking about," she replied at last through her teeth.

  "That's bullshit.  Give me the truth, now.  As your Instructor I command you." He forced.

  Skyeli emitted what Seifer could only call a low growl.   Her mind raced.  There was _no_ way she was going to tell Seifer about her dreams.  That only left one option: lying.  "Fine, Seifer.  I guess it was just me being petty." She sighed for dramatic emphasis.  _Let him think I don't want to tell him, and then he'll probably believe me._

  "A few months before you ran off with Headmistress Edea, I thought I was loosing my popularity to Reiko.  Some I made up a bunch of ridiculous lies that seem so insignificant now, and everyone found out.  They thought it was stupid, but the only thing stupid about it was that I got caught…" she trailed off.  In her mind she whispered over and over again,_ please believe this, please believe this…_

  The skepticism was clearly visible in his eyes, but Seifer just nodded slowly and finally agreed.  "Alright, I _guess that is reasonable," his disbelief was clear in his voice, "but you sure you're over this Treppie thing?  Or is that a lie too?"_

  She sighed.  "Yeah, I'm sure."  The phone on her nightstand rang.  Skyeli reached over him to pick it up, brushing up against his solid chest.  "Paige speaking," she spoke professionally into the phone.  "Oh, hold on a second mom," she turned to Seifer.  "I'll see you tomorrow morning at nine."

  He just nodded and showed himself out.

  Skyeli's eyes remained fixed to the door even after he had gone.

  "Sky… sweetie, are you still there?" her mother's voice came crackling through the distant line.  Her mother was a reminder of harder times.  Her mother was a reminder of her failures, a reminder of the locket.  Skyeli blinked as the thoughts faded away and found herself drawn back to the unwanted reality.

  "Yeah, I'm still here.  How's FH?  Don't you and dad leave for that cruise soon?"

  "Tomorrow morning, dear, bright and early.  I was just calling to check up…  You haven't talked to anyone at the shop lately have you?" he mother asked with ill-disguised worry.

  "No, mom.  I've been a little busy this week.  I might be going up for the SeeD exam at the end of next week, it's been occupying my thoughts…" Skyeli fished for excuses.

  "Oh, that's excellent dear!  Do try to be careful.  Don't want you getting hurt or killed anything like that…" her mother's voice trailed off.

  Skyeli nodded into the phone, then realizing her mother couldn't see her, she said, "Yeah mom," as any other teenager responds to a parents' over active imagination.

  "Is there anything you have to say to your father?" her mother asked trying to engage her daughter in any form of conversation.

  "No, just tell him I love him and I hope he packs the Dramamine for this trip." Skyeli joked trying to lighten her mother's mood.

  She chuckled, her deep and throaty laugh calming Skyeli.  Reminding her of carefree days of childhood long since past.  Everything seemed so easy then.  She didn't remember any responsibilities.  The pressure was starting to build again.  She could feel it herself.   She had to remember the fam …

  "Seriously," her mother said, cutting into her thoughts, "I have this uneasy feeling I can't shake.  Remember, dear, you guard the tradition now…"

  Skyeli leaned back onto her bed, reveling in the warm spot Seifer had left.  "Everything will be fine." She murmured, but there was no sincerity in her voice.

  She could hear her mother's sigh of resignation over the line.  "Yes, yes… Well, I suppose I should get going."

  "Mom, I love you."

  The silence went on for a minute or so before her mother sighed and responded.  "Yes, I love you, too.  Just remember who you are." With that the line went dead.

  Skyeli hung up the phone and shuddered.  Just like her mother to drop a bomb of that proportion on her just before she went to bed.  She glanced over at the radio/clock next to the phone.  Only 7:30pm and she had already slept away most of the day.  Skyeli grabbed a pair of jeans and a bra then went to the Cafeteria to catch some dinner.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  He didn't like this phone call.  Something inside him didn't want to make it.  Squall had long since finished dinner with Rinoa and she had long since left, but still he couldn't pick up the receiver.  _This is stupid, he's just another idiot ex-solider.  What can I possibly have to fear from him?  Finally he resolved to stop acting pathetic and pick up the phone._

  "Hello, this is Commander Leonhart of Balamb Garden.  I would like to speak to President Loire…"

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Selphie noticed her former student sitting all alone the minute she walked into the Cafeteria.  Under normal circumstances she would have walked up and sat down with her, but this time Skyeli just looked too wrapped up in thought for even Selphie to disturb her.  Instead the spunky brunette took a seat across from Zell, who appeared to be taking a late dinner, and Rinoa, who was sipping at a small cup of coffee.

  "Hey guys!" she squealed happily.

  "Hey, Selphie!" Rinoa called back in an equally high-pitched voice.

  "What's up?" Zell asked, smiling at his newly arriving friend.

  "Nothing much, what are you doing here so late?" she inquired of the spiky haired boy.

  "Got a mission tomorrow.  One of the ones you rejected for the SeeD exam.  Rinoa," he nodded towards the girl sitting opposite him, "is going too."

  Selphie's eyes grew big, displaying her growing excitement.  It was the one thing Zell never understood about her.  She might be the ditziest person ever, but when it came to fighting she was as willing to jump in as the next SeeD.

  "Wow, anything big?" she asked as she leaned over the table so to avoid missing any good details.

  "Nope, just the basic scenario.  Some of the Galbadian Army has forgotten that they are no longer viewed as Gods and are terrorizing the people of Timber.  There's a small team of ten going in to clear out the situation." Zell explained in between bites of hotdog.  Before Selphie could get some more questions in, three bells sounded to alert the attention of the students for the upcoming announcement.

  Squall's secretary's voice came softly over the P.A. system.  "Rinoa to the bridge please.  I repeat Rinoa to the bridge…"

  Rinoa's face clouded with confusion.  "Wonder what he wants…?

:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:

A/N: PLEASE REVIEW ME!  I want to know what people think.  Is it a believable plot so far?  How are the characters?  Does it make sense?  Am I moving to fast? Please, I want to know what you think!

  Anyway, in other notes, I'm taking a sabbatical of sorts from writing.  I'm in college and it's the end of the year, so putting 2 and 2 together we get EXAMS!  Yeah, so I have massive projects, and I'm not going to work on this fic again until after the May 18th.  So here is the important part:

            If you would like to know when I update again, leave a review with your email addy in it.  If just sign the review and make a note that you would like an email, I can get your addy through ffnet.  Ok?

Now!

Kelly- um, your pen name is too long.  ^-^  Thank you soooooooooooooooooo much for being my beta reader!  Way to kick my grammatical ass!  Uh, yeah right… tee hee, anyway, thank you for also including insight on the sky/seifer scene, I really thought that was weak and you helped me fix it up!  Oooooooooooootay!  So, I will get in touch with you soon about Ch. 8…

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight off everyone on FF.net for them. Skyeli Paige, Caine Morningstar and Reiko Keyling belong to me, so please don't steal them. They're all a little nuts anyway. . .


	8. for your own good

One Good Deed

By Caelia

Chapter Eight: for your own good

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Rinoa sat very still.  She was remembering one of Quistis's lectures that had mentioned sudden movements attracting wild beasts.  She had no desire to be cut to pieces today, or any other day for that matter.  All she did was respond to a simple page by her quiet fiancé.  She never in her darkest nightmares imagined the mess she would find in Squall's office.  The file drawers attached to the desk had been ripped open, manila folders spilling out everywhere.  On top of the desk were files on the Galbadian Army, and Selphie's Web Page on Laguna had been opened on the computer.

  Squall was pacing back and forth between Rinoa, seated comfortably on the couch, and the desk, destroyed at the far end of the room.  Still employing the "don't speak unless spoken to" tactics, Rinoa waited patiently for Squall to verbalize his problems.  Finally he did as he stopped his striding and came to stand in front of her.  He looked furious - his brow was knitted together; his features were darker than usual.  The scar stood out.  "I was thinking you could help me with something," he said at last, his words clipped.

  "…I can try," Rinoa replied hesitantly.  She scooted over to make room for him to sit down.  Squall threw himself into the cushions, praying that they would absorb some of his confusion.  Once again, he was silent, trying to think of a way to phrase all that he had learned in the last ten minutes or so.

 "I don't want to disturb your plans, but it looks like I'm going to be a having a blood relation at this wedding after all.  Sorry." Squall cautiously lifted his arm off his eyes to gauge Rinoa's reaction.

  "Would you care to elaborate on that one, dear?" She prodded gently.

  "President Loi… Laguna wanted me to call him; he left instructions in the SeeD request form," Squall took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind before he continued.  "I figured it was just for a clarification or to tell my some story about when he was younger."  He stopped.

  "And…?  I can't help you unless you tell me what happened." Rinoa said, poking at his arm as she said this.

  "Well, I was right about the second part.  He wanted to talk to me about Winhill and Raine.  Told me how he left Raine to look for Ellone when she was kidnapped.  He said what he hadn't mentioned to us earlier was that he left Raine pregnant.  She had died by the time he had returned.  And her son, well, he had been sent to an orphanage of the tip of Centra.  He sent Ellone down there too, hoping that she would be safe."  Squall paused and eyed Rinoa.  She still gave him a blank stare.  He sighed and stated the obvious, "Rinoa, he thinks I'm his son."

  She didn't even blink.  "Well, I knew that Squall.  Now the question is what are you going to do about it?"

  "How did you know?" he exploded.  She shook her head.****

  "Appearance, attitude, personality…"  Squall cut her off.

  "Are you kidding!?  I look nothing like him, and I do NOT act like him!" he insisted, jumping up from the seat and stamping his foot.  Rinoa made the mistake of giggling at his childish behavior.  "What do you think is so funny, angel?" he said, letting his anger slip slightly.  Rinoa stopped smiling.

  "I just knew Squall.  I wasn't around when you two met up, but I knew," she shrugged.  "I guess it came to me with all of Edea's knowledge.  But the question still remains, what are you going to do about it?"

  "I don't know."__

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

    Off the northern tip of Esthar, on the island where the Shumi Village lies, there is a lake that remains frozen solid all throughout the year.  In the center of the lake, there is a hole that leads down a cavern named the Ice Den.  Shiva can be found resting there, well, that is, when she is not being called upon by those that have the power to junction her.  At 6:30am on Wednesday morning, Seifer and Skyeli hovered over that very same hole, preparing to enter the Den.

  Skyeli sneezed again and shivered, obviously cold and tired.  Seifer took great pains to ignore her discomfort.  "I don't need to remind you that 'Ice' Magic is completely out of the question here.  Since 'Fire' Magic is a sort of specialty of mine, I'm really only going to act as a support.  I expect you to beat her on your own.  If you fail, I'll intervene…"

  "Glad to know I have your undying faith," Skyeli muttered and stuck out her tongue.  Then without another word took a deep breath and jumped into the hole.  Seifer shook his head and followed.

  She was surprised to find that the Den was brighter than it had been on the surface.  The light reflected down through the ice, forming patterns of shadows and highlights like she had never seen before.  Even Seifer's loud landing could not pull her eyes from the beauty of the scene before her.  It wasn't until she was attacked by a rather weak, although shocking, Bite Bug that she was jarred back into reality.  She destroyed the creature with one hit and turned to glare at Seifer.

  "Mind telling me why you didn't do anything before it bit me?" she asked, her voice steadily rising.

  "You need to learn to pay attention," was all he said before leading the way down one of the paths.

  _Funny, that's what I thought I was doing…_ Skyeli thought as she fumed silently._  He's even stricter than Selphie.  Over the past couple of days Seifer had pushed her so hard, she was aching in places she didn't even know existed.  Up at the 'ass crack' of dawn as Skyeli was now fond of saying, and then training and studying until well past dinner.  And it had only been two days!  She wasn't sure of how much more she could take…_

  "Hey!" Seifer's voice echoed back on the cave's walls.  "You still with me?  I want to be back to the Garden before 1pm so we can grab some lunch then test your new GF abilities in the Fire Cavern."

  "Oh yippee," she said under her breath while twirling her finger, then quickly called out, "Coming!" as she jogged up to walk alongside Seifer.  "So… did you come here as your pre-requisite, or did you go to the Fire Cavern?"

  "I came here.  Quistis, er, Instructor Trepe thought that, given my ability with Fire Magic, I would at least pass this much…" he trailed off, not wanting to think of the time just before the Sorceress War.

  Skyeli smiled.  "So did you pass?" she asked with the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

  "Very cute, yes I did.  It was one of the few tests I _did pass that year.  Now let's get going," Seifer ordered.  He sped up and took the left route at the next fork in the path.  Skyeli again drifted back to the patterns the ice was forming.  She stayed close to Seifer by gripping his coat lightly so that she could keep her focus on the walls._

  Something inside the ice was whispering to her.  She could feel power literally leaking from the ice into her system.  Had Seifer looked over at her, he would have noticed that her eyes had taken on an odd, silver glow.  Skyeli gently lifted her arm towards the wall.  She knew that if she could just touch it, all the power would be hers.  But she should have been paying attention.  Skyeli didn't even realize when Seifer stopped in front of Shiva's bed.  In fact, the next thing she realized she was being blasted back fifteen feet by the Ice Goddess herself.

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  Selphie was plain bored.  Rinoa and Zell were out on a mission, Irvine and Quistis were in class and that left only one person.  Squall.  Problem was, he had shut himself up in his office after Rinoa left and was obviously brooding over something.  She supposed she could go harass Squall into telling her his problem, and it seemed like the best option at the moment anyway.  With that, the Garden's little ray of sunshine made her way to the elevator.

  Squall was predictably just where Rinoa had left him on Monday night: his office.  He had managed to straighten out the room since his earlier outburst, but was still shaken by the confession of the President.  _My father?_  It didn't even make sense, the physical resemblance was minimal at best, and he wasn't even going to start thinking about the major personality gap.  The most rational explanation he could come up with was that this was a cruel joke of sorts; that everyone was in on it, even Rinoa.  Squall folded his arms on the desk before him and rested his head on them, giving into his thoughts.

  Selphie knocked for the fourth time.  Someone who wasn't as close to Squall would have given up after the second time, assuming that he was not in, but Selphie knew better.  He was in there and he was doing one of two things.  He was either so lost in thought that he actually didn't here the door or he was doing his best to pretend that was the situation.  Selphie just shrugged and let herself in, dropping any pretenses and formalities.  She took one look at Squall, sighed sadly and sat on the couch left of his desk.

  Squall had fallen asleep.  He gave up on thinking, and plain decided that unconsciousness was the way to go.  He had, of course awakened to the sound of the lock releasing in the door, but chose to rest a few minutes more anyway.  Finally when he was ready, he cleared his throat and without lifting his head asked, "Is there something you wanted Selphie?"

  She started a little at being addressed by the seemingly slumbering young man, but shook it off and smiled at him.  "Not particularly," she replied cheerfully enough.  "I was just lonely and you were the only one around.  Not that I think of you as a last resort or anything.  You don't normally like to hang out in the middle of the day, but with everyone off doing other things I thought it might be nice for the two of us to spend some time together.  You know, get a lunch, walk around Balam-"

  "That'll do Selph."  Squall sighed as he lifted his head from the desk.  "You win, I relent.  We'll do what you want for the afternoon."

  "Booyaka!"  She exclaimed as she jumped up and down twice then darted at Squall.  He tried to side step the on-coming attack of an over-excited Selphie, but there was no avoiding it.  In a matter of seconds she had latched onto his wrist and was dragging him out of his office door.

  The car ride into town had been pleasant.  (Well, aside from Selphie antagonizing a T-Rexaur into chasing them for a mile or so.)  It was a beautiful day in Balamb; the sky was so clear and blue that it was almost impossible to tell where it ended and the ocean began.  They drove with the windows down, allowing the fresh sea air to wash through the car and over them.  It was relaxing to Squall, and at the same time, exhilarating to Selphie.

  "Where are we going first?" He asked, breaking his silence for the first time since screaming at the T-Rexaur.

  Selphie paused thoughtfully, and then lit up as an idea came to her.  "I know!  We can go to the hotel and have lunch on the patio.  We can wear sunglasses and watch the ocean and act sophisticated and stuff!"  Her enthusiasm managed to crack a smile from Squall as he pulled into the garage at the entrance to the town.

  "Whatever," he replied lightly and with that said, fluidly exited the car.  Selphie gave a small smirk as she stared at him from behind.  _That's it; you've almost got him trusting you.  A few more well thought out bursts of energy and he should be ready to spill all his problems.  And then, I get to fix them!_  She smiled happily at her own resourcefulness, and then jogged up to walk beside him.  _Eat your heart out Rinoa_.

  Squall just sighed quietly and looked at Selphie as she bounced contently next to him.  It was hard to be depressed when she was around, even if he tried.  And he was trying.  Laguna was weighing on his mind even now.  To find your parents, every orphans dream come true, right?  Well, he wasn't sure if it was Squall Leonhart's dream.  He just wanted a simple kind of life and this was not making it easier.  He glanced at Selphie again as they passed the Weapon Shop.  Maybe he shouldn't dwell on this right now.  He had been cooped up in that office for two days.  Selphie tilted her head up as she felt his eyes on her.  He smiled and said, "Hyne, the sun feels so warm."

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

  "This stupid continent is so cold!" Skyeli exclaimed as she plopped herself down into the heavy cushions within the SeeD train cabin.  Seifer didn't seem to find the climate that objectionable, so Skyeli had decided to complain until he couldn't take _her_ temperament anymore.  She had been going off on anything she could think of since they left Shiva's cave.  The bite bug sting, the frostbite; she would tackle anything she could.  The surprising thing was that she wasn't even in a bad mood.  Quite the opposite actually, having just defeated Shiva she was feeling rather accomplished.  What she wanted was a reaction from Seifer, and so she repeated herself.  "I _said it's cold here!"_

  "Yeah, I think you might have mentioned that.  About a hundred times before…"  Seifer took the time to pause and glare at her before continuing.  "So just buckle down and shut up.  We are in the fully heated train."  With that he lapsed into yet another silence.  Skyeli just crossed her arms and pouted.  Perhaps she wouldn't be pushing Seifer-no, Professor Almasy's buttons today.  Instead she chose to relive her glorifying battle against Shiva, which oddly enough, was exactly what Seifer was doing.

  Something had struck him as bizarre from the very beginning of the fight.  Shiva made a short, flowery introduction then immediately attacked Skyeli, who appeared not to be paying attention at all.  This, however, was where it got strange.  When Skyeli stood up she stared Shiva straight in the eye and Seifer swore she growled.  Odder than that, Shiva looked terrified, not only of Skyeli, but also the ice attack the GF had thrown at her.  She spent the rest of the fight throwing weak spells at Seifer, never bothering to cast so much as a Blizzard on Skyeli.  Within moments, the battle was over, leaving a victorious young cadet as well as a mildly shocked Seifer.  He had never seen Shiva back down from _any opponent before.  There was definitely more than he was being told about Skyeli Paige._

  _Too quiet_, Skyeli thought.  She pulled her legs out of the Indian Style she had been sitting in and began to idly kick them back and forth.  She looked up at Seifer again.  He had spent the last one and a half days kicking her ass, and whenever he looked at her she felt the suspicion in his gaze.  He regarded her as some sort of mental bomb, as if any minute she was liable to crack up and slit her wrist again.  She was only trying to make things easier on everyone, including him.  But _he_ had chosen to keep her alive, so she respected his wishes.  Skyeli concentrated harder on him.

  He was thinking about the battle.  She would try to make things easier for him again and take his mind off of earlier that morning.  Hopefully he wouldn't turn away her gift again.

  "Won't you at least talk to me?"  Her voice sounded raw as it broke through the silence.  "It's a long way back to Balamb, you can't expect me to sit here and stare out the window at scenery that flies by to fast."

  "Well, would that be a change of view, considering you've been staring at me?" _Had she been staring at me?_  He was unsure and yet positive at the same time.  Skyeli blushed, but quickly stuck out her tongue and tried to rescue herself from further humiliation.

  "That's because you had a strange expression on you face.  I thought you were going to pop a vein or something.  What were you thinking about?  Tying your shoes or buttoning that trench coat of yours?"  She smiled sweetly and batted her lashes.

  "Why you little…" He began, trying to think up one of his crueler insults.  "No, nevermind, if you are going to be rude like that, I just won't talk at all."  Now was Seifer's moment to smirk.  He folded his arms over his broad chest and leaned back into the seat.  Skyeli, sitting opposite from him, dropped her jaw in shock.

  "No, no, no, no!  I'll be good, I'll be nice!  Oh, please Seif, er, Prof. Almasy?"  She had turned on the sofa to fully face him, kneeling and grasping her hands in front of her in a pleading manor.  "Come on, 4 hours with no one to talk to is bad enough, but it's worse when there is someone sitting right there."  With this she began inching closer and tried (as well as failed) making a puppy dog face. Once within arms reach, she proceeded to poke him in an attempt to find a ticklish spot and break his icy demeanor.  Again, she failed.

  Sighing loudly and dramatically, she plopped back down into a sitting position, so close to him that there sides pushed up against each other.  She turned her head to face him.  "You really are no fun."

_:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:_

A/N:  PLEASE REVIEW ME!  Anyway, I've sort of done a quick read through of all the chapters up until this point and revised any minor mistakes I could find.  Really nothing major if you've been following along.  Just general grammar problems and such.  So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.  Please read and review!  Chapter 9 should be up in a few days.

Chapter 9: early preparations ~ The test is approaching and tensions are running high.  How will Skyeli handle her partners?  What happened in Shiva's cave?  Why do I sound like the narrator for the original Batman show?

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight off everyone on FF.net for them. Skyeli Paige, Caine Morningstar and Reiko Keyling belong to me, so please don't steal them. They're all a little nuts anyway. . .


	9. preparation hell

One Good Deed

By Caelia

Chapter Nine: preparation hell

* * *

Squall's head was throbbing. That was the absolute last time he made the mistake of playing a drinking game with Selphie. She always won, which never failed to surprise him. _For such a small girl, her tolerance is amazing,_ Squall mused to himself. He wasn't exactly sure what happened after the drinking games ended, but he had a feeling that some personal information was divulged. He sensed that it was most of the information centering on his relationship to Laguna.

Now this left Selphie with several options. First of all, she could (and probably would) publish this information on her online shrine to the President of Esthar. Then after thoroughly circulating her newfound information throughout the Garden, she would move onto phase two: Selphie would fix it. Selphie was Squall's social opposite in every way. He had no doubt that she was more capable of handling his personal life than he was.

* * *

Zell took a deep breath and scanned the area. He and Rinoa had been in Timber for a little over four days now. As it turns out, that was about all the time needed to clear out the town of Galbadian forces. The army was barely functioning and coarsely pieced together. It was a small job for a group of SeeDs to clear out any trouble makers.

He turned around to face his raven haired partner. Rinoa dusted herself off then turned to meet Zell's gaze.

"You notice anything odd?" he asked. Rinoa cocked her head, unsure of how to respond to the question.

"What? Did you think that taking down a couple dozen rebel soldiers would be harder?" Her voice was lightly puzzled.

"No, not that," Zell ran a hand through his hair. The last two battles had made him a bit sweaty, causing his hair to droop a bit. "It's just I haven't seen a single monster in the area."

"Then I guess we're lucky." Rinoa smiled and shook it off.

* * *

"Professor please. . ."

"No."

"But you could. . ."

"No!"

Skyeli pouted as she leaned on the rail of the Training Center. It was mid-afternoon on Friday and she had been forced to attend her old morning class with Professor Tilmitt for an important announcement. This had turned out to be the teams for the SeeD exam on the following Friday; her team consisted of Reiko and Caine. It was like some giant cosmic joke and she wasn't laughing.

"Seifer come on, they hate me. What if they murder me and toss me in a ditch? I bet that wouldn't reflect to well on your teaching ability," she lifted her head hope rose up inside her. "I can see the headlines now, 'Former Sorceress' Knight Allows Student to be Slaughtered by Jealous Classmates.' It's some seriously bad press."

"You're putting a little too much value on yourself, don't you think?" He asked with a smirk. "I mean to the Garden, you'd just be another lost head-case…" Seifer looked away as he said this and in doing so, missed Skyeli grimacing at him. "Besides, Quistis is going to be your control, so it's no problem. She's very fair, you know that."

"What are you talking about?" Skyeli demanded, absolutely incredulous that he could take the situation so lightly. "Whether or not she is fair, she still won't believe me over them. Especially since she will just wait back with the transport, she won't even know what's going on!"

"Don't be stupid, just because the Commanding Officer doesn't follow you out onto the field, don't assume you aren't being observed." Seifer narrowed his eyes and turned to face Skyeli again. "Do me a favor and try to remember that." With that said, he turned and headed deeper into the Training Center with hopes of finding a T-Rexaur for the two of them.

Skyeli, however, hadn't moved. If she didn't know better, she would have thought she was going into a sort of mini-shock. _He doesn't believe me. But, I thought for sure he didn't trust Caine… No, he doesn't believe _in_ me; I guess what it comes down to is that he doesn't trust me either…_ Finding no comfort in that thought, Skyeli gave a glum little sigh and jogged to catch up with her Professor. She made certain to keep him within her sight, but stayed far enough behind so that he couldn't hurl further insults her way. Unfortunately, she had become so distracted by her own search for the elusive pre-historic animal that she failed to notice Seifer had stopped. She walked past him by several feet before realizing what she had done.

Seifer was standing in the off to the side staring into the lush greenery and away from Skyeli.

"…"

"Sorry," she said, peering around to try to get a look at his face. "Did you say something?"

"I. Said. I'm. Sorry." Despite his struggling to enunciate each word, but it still came like a growl. "This isn't easy."

Skyeli just offered a little lopsided grin. "I know, it's never easy admitting you were wrong, but I'm proud of you Professor. This was a big step forward for you."

"Not that." The blonde's voice was now clipped with anger.

"Oh, you mean being a teacher? Yeah I suppose. I bet it'll be even worse when you have to deal with someone who's really dense."

"You mean like right now?!" He exclaimed, "I'm not talking about teaching or apologizing! I'm talking about the Field Exam!"

"Why? You're not the one who has to take." The solemn girl looked up at him, her face a mask of confusion.

"I could strangle you right now!" He said, grabbing Skyeli's arm and pushing her up against the rail that had been on his right side. "Listen very carefully. I am nervous because if this doesn't work out right, I'm back to square one. I have to start my petition to become a teacher all over again, and frankly, I don't want to do that. So, there is a lot ridding on all this and I'm sorry I'm taking it out on you." He finished and waited for her to berate him with feminine sympathy. He was more than a little thrown of balance by what he got instead.

"Hyne, if you're this bitchy right now, I don't even want to think about what you are going to be like next week. Oh, look! I think I saw something move in the woods." And without paying any further attention to Seifer, she skipped off to the opposite side of the path and jumped the rail into the jungle. Seifer remained there, mouth hanging open, until Skyeli called back to him, announcing her discovery of their T-Rexaur. Feeling powerful again, Seifer gripped the handle of Hyperion a little tighter and headed off to help.

However, what he found when he arrived at the petite brunette's side was yet another shock. Although she could not have been fighting the beast for more than 30 seconds, he was already swaying on his feet. It only took a physical attack from Skyeli and two Blizzagas from Seifer to render the animal unconscious.

"Phew, well, that's enough for me, time to hit the showers." Skyeli turned sharply, avoiding Seifer's eyes, and headed towards the exit.

"Wait a minute," he shouted at her retreating form and then made to follow. "That was the first T-Rexaur all day and I think someone got to it before us! You haven't even broken a sweat! Did you even get to summon Shiva? All I saw you do was hit it with…" Seifer broke off as he grabbed her by the arm and turned her to face him. Something wasn't quite right about her eyes…

"Let go. What?" The look the older boy was giving her was a little unsettling.

"Your eyes, they are sort of off a bit. They're so bright…"

"Hmm… oh that." Skyeli shrugged, giving the appearance of a lack of concern. "My eyes change color naturally. It just depends on the day I guess…"

"That would explain what I've seen over the past few days, but this is different. They're sort of shifting through different shades of blue." He reached out to touch the side of her face, but Skyeli looked down sharply. Seifer continued in a sort of bemused, distracted voice. "Reminds me of something I've been meaning to ask you, about your GF's." Skyeli made a non-committal grunt and wait for him to continue. She knew she should have left by now, but his hand was resting on her face and he was drawing light circles with his thumb.

"What about my GFs?" She prompted.

"Why did we have to get Shiva, when you could already junction Leviathan. Selphie didn't mention that."

"Oh." She coughed slightly and shook her head lightly so his hand fell away. "That. I found him…" _Or he found me, either way…_ "I never told anyone, because I never really summoned it. I just used it to build up my junctions. Besides, I never really earned a GF for myself, so that's why I needed to face Shiva."

"About Shiva…" Seifer started, his gaze becoming more focused and piercing. "Something weird happened down in that cave? Shiva, like, backed down or something. Did you notice?"

"Hmm… not really." Her voice was airy and distracted as she resolutely concentrated on a spot over his shoulder. "Maybe she sensed Leviathan in me, and decided to back down…" Skyeli allowed her eyes to graze his before turning to look over his other shoulder.

"That doesn't make sense, what could Shiva have to fear from a little water?" But before he got an answer to this, a roar behind him announced the awakening of their T-Rexaur. Skyeli grabbed her Glaive and pushed around him, flying into physical attacks. Seifer merely stowed his questions and turned to follow.

* * *

By the time Seifer and Skyeli had made their way through the Training Center's loop they had gone through 5 T-Rexaurs and 18 Gnats, and it was way past 5 o'clock at night. Skyeli was too tired to pay much attention to Seifer's repeated attempts to extract information from her. So, facing complete failure he let her go to bed with hopes of talking to her on Saturday. However, Skyeli was paying more attention that Seifer originally realized. When he went to find her mid-morning that day, he learned that she had taken the idea of a day off seriously. Reiko had leaned out the door, giving him the best possible view, and announced that her roommate had taken off early this morning and had not left information to her whereabouts.

Seifer had spent the rest of the morning and afternoon searching the Garden and surrounding area for Skyeli, but it appeared she did not want to be found. When he walked into dinner that evening, he gave one last look around, sighed in defeat and headed over to Squall and Zell. The two boys were sitting far apart from the other students and faculty, talking quietly to one another. Seifer noted that Rinoa was absent as he walked up to the pair. The two quieted as Seifer approached.

"Don't stop on my account," he said with a smile. "Where's your girlfriend, Leonhart?"

Squall just shrugged and said, "With Selphie, planning stuff." Seifer didn't push it, and instead turned his attention to Zell.

"If you're not too busy, I have a favor to ask you, Zell." The blonde in question looked up with a little bit of surprise in his eyes.

"Must be a pretty big favor for you to use my given name," Zell commented passively. Seifer just continued to smile. He knew no matter what he called Zell, the martial artist would still be interested in the little job he had for him. Seifer reached into his pocket and pulled out a bent, silver locket.

"My student accidentally broke this and it means so much to her. I know you're good at this sort of thing, so maybe you could fix it?" Seifer knew he didn't really have to ask; he could already see the eagerness shining in the smaller man's eyes. Zell had taken the locket from Seifer and was carefully turning it in his hand, inspecting the damage. Suddenly he looked up.

"It'll be a challenge, it's totally bent out of shape," but Seifer could see that was exactly why he was going to take it up. "See, look here. It's even cracked in a few places. This will take me a bit. You didn't need it back immediately, did you?"

"Nah, by the end of the week if you can," Seifer stood, nodded at the two men and took his leave. When he was well out of ear-shot, Squall continued where he left off.

"See? He wasn't like that before. He's almost…?" The brunette just shook his head sadly, at a lose for words.

"Nice? Considerate? Respectful?" Zell rescued. "I know, he wasn't like that before. Not even after we was brought back into the Garden, but people _do_ change. Maybe Seifer has finally grown up?"

"No, Seifer's always had a plan, as long as I've known him. He doesn't do anything unless it serves him somehow. Remember how his was the night he came back? Snuck in and everything." Squall said as he let the memories drift past him.__

_:: two years before ::_

_The six students had been called up to meet with Cid and Edea. It was only __8:00am__ and they had all been up into the early morning partying, whether at the ball or in private quarters. Upon arriving they offered the traditional SeeD salute (even Rinoa)._

_"At ease," Cid said with a frown from behind his desk. Edea was standing beside him looking thoughtful. Squall was the first to step forward._

_Saluting again he asked, "Headmaster, why have we been called? Has something gone wrong?"_

_"No, er, yes. Maybe. . ." Cid was obviously in need of some aid and looked to his wife for help, which Edea offered over._

_"What he is trying to say, my children, is that last night we had a visitor." Edea began slowly and cautiously, scanning the group before her for signs of recognition. When there were none, she continued. "I know that these past few months have been difficult for you. I also know that is an understatement. But the same applies to the young man that visited us last night. His time has been marked with trials and tribulations not unlike your own. I just wish you will bear that in mind when you meet him."_

_Matron's speech was causing Squall bile to rise into the back of his throat. "Whatever…" Squall mumbled in an attempt to hide his unease._

_"Try and control yourself, for my sake," sighed Edea. Turning to the door that led to her bedroom she called out, "Will you come out here please, Seifer."_

_And with those softly spoken words, the entire room became deathly still. Seifer strutted into the room, proving that he had not changed much in the month since they had last seen him. Cocky bastard , thought Quistis. But behind his eyes was something else, something completely unlike Seifer. Buried deep in his eyes were hints of regret, sorrow and fear. He, the great Sorceress's Knight, was terrified of what these people might do to him._

_Edea could feel it. The room was too quiet, she was waiting for the explosion, but she couldn't decide which direction it would come from. And then she realized it wasn't coming. They were all waiting on Squall, and he wasn't moving. He just stood there with his head bent, struggling to keep his breath calm. And then his head popped up, and Edea saw all that was running through his mind._

_Squall wouldn't attack for three reasons. First, Edea, his Matron, his only mother, had asked him not to. Second was Rinoa's hand, placed on his arm restraining him long enough for him to think through this situation. Third was the realization that whatever choice he made, the five people standing next to him would act on that decision._

_"So what the fuck does he want here?" Squall finally managed, addressing Edea and refusing to acknowledge Seifer's existence._

_Edea opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by the voice of Seifer._

_"Look, I know that you probably never wanted to see me again. And I understand that. I betrayed the Garden, I betrayed our group; hell, I even betrayed my two best friends in the whole world! But this is my home. It's the only one I know other than the orphanage, and I have a lot left to do here. That's not an apology, I know, but it's the best I can manage. Just give me this chance to set things straight, alright?"_

_"Since it was your lives he touched the most, I put his faith in your hands," Edea spoke, while Cid nodded in absent agreement._

_Squall turned his back on Seifer and looked at his friends. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "Do we let him stay?"_

_"We need to give him the chance. I know what it's like to be under a Sorceress's influence. I'm sure he is sincerely sorry for all the damage he has caused," Rinoa spoke up first._

_"Remember man, he's been one of us from the beginning; since the orphanage and then here, at Garden. He is a part of our lives," said the cowboy with Selphie nodding at his side._

_"Squall, you know I'd be the last one to stand up and defend Seifer and I can't believe I'm saying this, but. . . . . . I agree with Rinoa and __Irvine__," offered Zell. Shit, he looks defeated, thought Squall._

_Quistis gave a little kick at the air, and began to murmur, "He always had such potential . . . . the whole thing started just because he wanted to help."_

_Squall nodded and looked around at everyone, taking in their determination. He turned back to the trio standing by the desk._

_"Alright. Stay. But you're not going to be allowed back into the SeeD program immediately and your position on D.C. is suspended as of now. Dismissed." Squall said in clipped tones. Everyone began to file out of the room. Seifer was the last to walk by Squall._

_"Oh, yes, and Seifer one more thing. Stay the hell away from me and Rinoa for a while." With that Squall turned on his heel and followed Rinoa to the elevator, leaving Seifer to contemplate all that had just passed._

"Yeah," Zell began, breaking through Squall's memory. "I remember what he was like back then, and before you say it, no, I never got a formal apology. Seifer is changing Squall, just not that much."

"Whatever."

* * *

It was well past 8 before Skyeli strolled back into the Garden, smiling to herself. Her cheeks were flushed, her skin already forming a light tan and the sand still clung determinedly to her hair. This was clearly a girl who had just stepped off the beach. Seifer had told her to relax and take the day off and she couldn't think of a better place to do that than Balamb Beach. It was not hard to find a deserted section; despite the fact that Balamb was a small island, there was space enough for everyone.

Skyeli was about to head to the dorms when she realized Reiko would probably be in their room. It had been a long time since she'd been in such a good mood and she wasn't going to let her spiteful roommate take that from her too. Turning swiftly on her heel, Skyeli decided that the library was the second best place to hole up and avoid the world. It was the exact same thought that Seifer had.

He watched his student walk in, pick up a magazine and flop down in a comfy, corner chair. She looked tired, but there was still a glow about her. She'd taken this day off thing to heart and not even Seifer could disturb her. With a sigh of boredom, he turned back to the text before him. The basic battle strategies being described within were so simple he was sure any of the junior cadets could perform them. However, with the exam approaching, he would take no chances. Skyeli would just have to bear the boredom, as he was now, while they reviewed.

Seifer had kept Skyeli successfully out of his mind until one of the librarians came over to tap him on the shoulder.

"Library is closing now, would you like to check that out?" His inquiry was polite, but forceful. Clearly this worker didn't want to stay late. Seifer glanced over at the chair Skyeli had been occupying, noticing the pig-tail girl standing over her with a puzzled look on her face. Skyeli had fallen asleep.

Turning back to the boy before him, Seifer handed him the book. "Yeah, take that to the counter and I'll be right there. I just need to get something of mine." The male librarian snatched the book from Seifer's outstretched hand and stormed off. The big blonde, however, headed over to aid the pig-tailed girl.

"Don't worry, I'll get her," the girl just smiled in relief at Seifer's offer. She had been trying several methods and was still unsuccessful at rousing the girl on the chair. Seifer leaned down,, bringing his mouth to her ear. "Skyeli," he whispered softly, but to no avail. Remembering Quistis's clever move in the Infirmary, Seifer gently pinched shut her nostrils.

Skyeli coughed once and blinked up owlishly at the man standing over her. "Seifer… what are you doing here?" Still too tired to form a complete thought, she looked around trying to take in her surroundings. Unfortunately, the island sun had taken its toll. She gave up, looking to Seifer helplessly.

"Relax, kid, you just fell asleep in the Library. They're closing now, so I'm going to walk you back, ok?" But all Skyeli did was nod limply and allow him to drag her out of the chair. As they were passing the entrance, a book was tossed rather forcibly at Seifer's head. Seifer caught it easily and turned, snarling at his assailant. The rude librarian from earlier looked back with a nasty smirk.

"Your book, sir," he said waspishly.

* * *

A/N: PLEASE REVIEW ME! Thank you so much for reading my story. I've made false promises to finish it before (I started this back in 2000), but I really hope to be able to this time. I'm a little annoyed because isn't accepting my formating for some reason. Sorry to those of you who read this chapter as it was originally posted. The page breaks were deleted for some reason.

Chapter 10: sowing your wild SeeDs: Seifer has a semi-conscious Skyeli to himself. What will he do with her? It's exam time! With Reiko and Caine in her group, is she even safe? Plus, wedding bells are ringing a little louder for Squall.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight off everyone on for them. Skyeli Paige, Caine Morningstar and Reiko Keyling belong to me, so please don't steal them. They're all a little nuts anyway. . .


End file.
